How To Proceed When Involved In a Boating Accident

What is categorized as a boating accident?

A fire, falling overboard, sinking, capsizing, or a collision when you are riding on a water-vehicle are essentially categorized as boating accidents. Any kind of personal injury that is sustained on a jet ski is considered the same as riding a ferry or a boat or a ship.

If you are injured following a boating accident, the liability can work differently from an injury acquired from a car accident. To say the least, the rules that apply on the road are different from a boating environment. For instance, when you have a car accident, rules indicate that only one motorist is usually at fault. If you were driving fast and you ran a red light, the resulting accident would be your responsibility. But in a boating accident, both boats are usually considered to be at fault.

How to determine who is at fault

If an injury occurs to one of the boat operators, a claim is placed against the other operator of the boat if it is determined that he or she is less than half responsible for the accident. However, the boat type will also contribute to who is responsible for the accident. Due to safe boating practices, a sailboat is considered to be less responsible for a boating accident compared to a motorboat.

One unique problem that is not faced by motorists is the wave or the wake. Passengers can be knocked off by the wake over or even be knocked overboard. If you incur an injury because of a wake, then you can sue for damages.

The ability to sue because of a wake is dependent on the wake’s wave, the speed of the moving boat, the visibility that was present, the type of boat you were on, whether you had received a warning of the impending wake, and the boat traffic that was close by. Since it can be tough to determine if it is appropriate to sue because of a wake, contact an attorney such as those from Hunter Law P.A. before doing anything.

A wave is not the same as a wake in that there is no motorist who will be held responsible for a wave. In this instance, the boat operator will be responsible if you were not warned. If the boat collides with a rock or land, the boat operator will be held responsible. This will be the case if there is a case that indicates that the boat operator was negligent. For example, if the boat was being driven fast and the visibility was great, the judge may make an assumption that the boat operator was responsible for the accident.

What to do after an accident

Boating can turn out to be dangerous, therefore, you need to make sure that all necessary precautions are taken. You should be good at swimming and you should have a life jacket on the boat. Even if all the precautions are taken, accidents are still bound to happen.

After an injury occurs, ensure that you get prompt medical care. Ensure that you try as much as possible to record the events as they happened and contact those who were on board to serve as witnesses to the accidents. The information that you need to gather at the scene of the accident include:

• Names, phone numbers, and addresses of the boat operators involved in the accident
• Names, phone numbers, and addresses of the passengers who were in the boat or vessel that crashed
• Identification and registration of the other vessels that were involved in the accident.
• Names of insurance companies and insurance policy numbers of the vessels that were involved in the accident.

It is a good idea to report the accident to the U.S Coast Guard because getting a report from the coast guard can help clear up how the accident happened. In most cases, reporting the accident is a necessity that is demanded by federal law.

Boating injuries

There are different kinds of injuries that boating accidents can bring about. You may end up suffering from brain damage because of drowning which causes lack of oxygen. You may also end up hitting your head on a hard rock while falling into the water or you may also be cut by the propeller blades after the boat runs over you. It gets worse in situations where two boats collide and you get pinned between the two boats.

Although it may be easy to identify the cause of injury, it may be hard to prove if negligence was involved. The difficulty of identifying if negligence was involved is the reason why Hunter Law P.A. is needed.

After a boating accident, working with an attorney for help on the personal injury case is essential. Ensure that you contact Hunter Law P.A. as fast as possible so that you have a greater opportunity of gathering up the evidence needed to win the case.