Is it time to make life-jacket use mandatory in boats?

Recreational boaters across Canada will be taking to the water to have some summer fun this long holiday weekend. Most will have a great time. But chances are that a few of those boaterswill drown their life-jacketsunworn.

Current legislation requires recreationalboaters to have one life-jacket orpersonal flotation device (PFD) on board for every person. But they don't need to be worn.

• Safety advocates push for Canadian strategy against drowning
• Wearing life-jackets should be mandatory, OPP say

It comes as littlesurprise that the statistics show that the majority ofboaters don't wear life-jackets. The stats also show that the vast majority of people who drown in boating accidents weren't wearing theirs.

A 20-year study of boating-related deathsreleased last month by the Canadian Red Cross revealed the extent of the problem:

• Up to 85 per centof boating-related deathscould have been prevented by the wearing of a life-jacket or PFD.
• 77 per centof boating-related deaths occurred during recreational activities like fishing, powerboating and canoeing.
• Capsizing, falling overboardand swampingwere the most frequent incidents that led to a boating fatality.
• Alcohol was a likely factor in 43 per centof boating-related deaths among those 15 and over.

The report also found that the overwhelming majority of boating-related deaths involved males. Indigenous Canadians wereparticularly at risk as life-jacket use in that population was much lower.

• Indigenous boaters less likely to wear life-jackets, says Red Cross

The Canadian Safe Boating Council has launched a life-jacket campaign thatestimatesthat if every boaterworealife-jacket, itcould save 100 lives a year.

So why isn't it mandatory for everyone in a canoe, smaller powerboat or sailboat to wear alife-jacket?

It's not like our lawmakers aren't on the side of improving boating safety. After all, Canada now requires the operators ofall recreational boats with a motor to have apleasure craft operator card.

The federal government also proposed earlier this year that the crewand all passengers aboard commercial float planes be required to wear inflatable flotation devices.

But in a countrywhere millionsheadout on a boat each year and scoresdrown, we leave it to recreational boaters to decide whether they'll put on that life-jacket or use it as a cushion.

To be sure, an element of carelessness or recklessness was a factorin many of the drowning deaths among boaters. Some weredrunk, some headed out in rough weather, some never had any life-jackets in theirboat to begin with. Those who want to leave the rulesthewaytheyare askwhy the entire boating community should have to pay for the sins of a relative few.

So for now, moral suasion remains the general approach in Canada.

A fewjurisdictions have mandatory wear laws

MostU.S. states mandate the use of life-jacketsfor children on board smaller boats. Washington staterequires life-jackets be worn by allwater skiers, anyone beingtowed and by all boaters on personal watercraftor jet skis, as well as by children 12 and under in small vessels.

The state of Victoria, in Australia, requires all occupants of smaller powerboats, canoes and kayaks to wear a life-jacket when the vessel is underway. A 2014 study found that drowning deaths in the state fell from 59 in the six years before the law to 16 in the five years after.

Acity of Calgary bylaw requires everyone on a vessel to wear a life-jacketin Calgary waters, including the Bow and Elbow Rivers.

Commercialfishermen in Nova Scotia need to wear life-jackets while at sea.

But other than that, there is no requirement in Canada for any boaterto wear one, and that's not likely to change any timesoon.

"Transport Canada is not proposing mandatory wear of PFDs or life-jackets," the department said in an emailto CBC News on Friday. "The department continues to work with law enforcement and other boating safety partners to promote voluntary approaches to wearing PFDs or life-jackets to raise boating safety awareness."

'It starts with the parents'

RickCaissie, the vice-president of prevention and safety for the Canadian Red Cross, says adultsare the key to getting more young people to wear theirlife-jackets. "It starts with the parents leading by example," he says.

He would love to see every boater wear a life-jacket. The research shows they save lives.

But Caissiedoesn't think blanket legislation requiring such use for every boaterwould be the most effective way of doingthat.

"Maybe we justtarget children under this agein a boat under thissize,"he told CBC.

"We need to be realistic in our messaging, otherwise there will be resistance."

Caissiealso dismisses the reasonssome people give for why they don't weartheirs:they're hot, they're ugly, no one else is wearing one, they don't look good, or they restrict movement.

He says none of those reasons hold water now, and that the days are long gone when the only availablelife-jacketswere like"giant toilet seats" around people'sheads.

"The industry is really coming to the plate and making [PFDs]cooler, more comfortable, more flexible, so people can continue to paddle."

"They're stylish and super comfortable."