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Wear It |
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Coast Guard to
Emphasize Life Jacket Wear
A key outcome of the Coast Guard's Recreational Boating Safety program is
to reduce loss of life on the water. A major component of that program is
to convince boaters to wear their life jackets while on the water. Various media
campaigns have been utilized in the past without a major shift in the desired
outcome.
A Vessel Safety Check (VSC) provides the vessel examiner an opportunity
to educate the boater on the value and importance of life jacket wear. During
the VSC, the criteria for selecting, sizing, and inspection of life jackets is
reviewed and demonstrated to the boater.
Public education courses are another venue to demonstrate the variety of
life jackets available. Of paramount interest is the inflatable life jacket
which offers the boater a comfortable and reliable life saving option.
Public affairs activities, such as safety exhibits at boat shows, provide
another venue to illustrate to the public the variety of life jackets available
in the market place.
The Coast Guard’s Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety firmly believes
that our vessel examiners, public educators and public affairs representatives
should be role models for life jacket wear and are encouraging them to wear
their life jackets during vessel safety checks, public education classes, and
public affair events. As an incentive for demonstrating the "right behavior" on
and around the water, inflatable life jackets branded with the "Wear It" logo
will be made available (on a loner basis) to each Flotilla and
Squadron.
Inflatable life jackets will be distributed to local
units which will be responsible for the custody, maintenance, and utilization of
this equipment and annual reporting of the local inventory through respective
chain of command to the Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety, Program
Operations Branch (CG-54222). The expectation is that they will be leveraged to
provide the maximum possible exposure to support the wearing of life jackets.
Peter Urgola, Bob Miller
USCG Auxiliary
Chief, Vessel Examination Dept.
Chairman, VSC Committee
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