To really understand the data/statistics you should read the complete CG report.
This is a report is for all reported accidents to the CG for all areas it covers and may not reflect NH inland lakes in any way so a proper correlation could be difficult (IMHO). I do not believe that NH reports its inland lakes deaths/accidents to the CG. I could be wrong though.
Everyone is selecting sections and I too see one that is important.
Page 15 of the actual report shows (I could not get that one copy/pasted) that the 3 highest months for deaths is Oct, Nov, Dec and the lowest months are June July and August. Go figure??? Winni's High Boating season is June, July and August.
The Executive Summary States:
In 2008, the Coast Guard counted 4789 accidents that involved 709 deaths,
3331 injuries and approximately $54 million dollars of damage to property as a result
of recreational boating accidents.
•
Over two-thirds of all fatal boating accident victims drowned, and of those, ninety (90) percent were not wearing a life jacket.
•
Only ten percent of deaths occurred on boats where the operator had received
boating safety instruction.
Seven out of every ten boaters who drowned were using boats less than 21 feet in
length.
Careless/reckless operation, operator inattention, no proper lookout, operator
inexperience and passenger/skier behavior rank as the top five primary contributing
factors in accidents.
Alcohol use is the leading contributing factor in fatal boating accidents; it was listed
as the leading factor in 17% of the deaths.
Eleven children under age thirteen lost their lives while boating in 2008. 63% of the
children who died in 2008 died from drowning.
The most common types of vessels involved in reported accidents were open
motorboats (43%), personal watercraft (23%), and cabin motorboats (15%).
The 12,692,892 boats registered by the states in 2008 represent a 1.4%
decrease from last year when 12,875,568 boats were registered.