Boat traffic up, fatalities down in Michigan

DETROIT, Mich. – As of the end of August, Michigan boat traffic was up for the year while boating fatalities were down dramatically, the Detroit Free Press reported in an article today.

Though officials told the newspaper they would like to attribute the apparent decline to increased awareness of boating safety, they weren’t sure that was the case.

To be clear, the 12 deaths reported by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources were for the eight months ended August 31, while the 27 boating fatalities reported in 2004 took place over the course of the entire year. However, officials state that boating accidents drop dramatically after Labor Day due to a decline in boating during the off season.

As of the end of August, there had been 93 boating accidents involving 118 vessels, down from 168 accidents involving 217 vessels in 2004, the newspaper reported. There were 986,456 boats registered in the state as of the end of August. And the newspaper stated that as of yesterday afternoon, there were no accidents reported on the lakes in Wayne, Oakland or Macomb counties.

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