Boating safety course is Saturday

Lieutenant Colonel Eric T. Olson, acting superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, announces the Patrol will participate in the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators’ (NASBLA) Spring Aboard campaign.

Developed by NASBLA, and produced under a grant administered by the U.S. Coast Guard, the annual Spring Aboard campaign informs and motivates boaters to prepare for the boating season by providing information on how to enroll in a boater education course. The campaign emphasizes enrollment in approved courses which meet the national boating educational standard.

The Spring Aboard campaign encourages boaters to register for a certified boating educational course during the week of March 17-23, 2019. Forty-nine states and U.S. territories require some form of boater education.

Missouri law requires everyone born after January 1, 1984, who operates a vessel on Missouri lakes to possess a certified boating safety education card and photo ID. This includes personal watercraft operators.

Boaters have the opportunity to sign up for a certified course in a classroom or take an online course by visiting the Patrol’s website at https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/WP02Web/app/safetyEdClasses. The classroom courses provided by the Missouri State Highway Patrol are free, but registration is required and the boater ID card costs $15.

Troop E of Poplar Bluff will host a course from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, March 23 at their headquarters at 4947 Highway 67 North, Poplar Bluff.

U.S. Coast Guard statistics indicate that of the boating crashes where the level of operator education was known, 80.6 percent of boating deaths occurred on boats where the boat operator had never received boating education instruction. In contrast, only 19.4 percent of deaths occurred on vessels where the operator possessed a nationally-approved boating safety education certificate.

Watercraft operators must consider the effect their actions have on others. Share the waterway and use common sense, good judgment, and courtesy to ensure the safety of all.