Important Facts
* Alcohol is a vasodilator. That means if you are drinking, your blood vessels will come closer to the surface of your skin and open up for more blood flow. If you fall overboard, you have a much greater chance of dying from shock or hypothermia as your body loses core heat more quickly.
* Drunk Drivers kill an average of 4.5 people and injure 125 people in Canada every day.
* Approximately 40% of all traffic fatalities are alcohol related.
* Approximately 70% of fatally injured impaired drivers had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) more than twice the legal limit. (CCMTA - Transport Canada)
* Approximately 1,350 people die each year in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes. Many thousands more sustain serious injuries. It is estimated that the annual costs associated with health care, damaged property and lost wages resulting from crashes involving alcohol in Canada exceed $5 billion.
* Impaired drivers continue to account for 32% of all driver fatalities. ("Smashed" Magazine - Transport Canada)
* Boat Sober: Alcohol affects your ability to function in three critical ways. Your balance, judgement and reaction time are affected almost immediately with the first drink. The effects of alcohol are intensified by fatigue, which can be caused by the sun, glare, noise, wind and the motion of the boat.
* Passengers aboard boats who consume alcohol are at risk as well as the operator. Impaired passengers can easily fall overboard and drown.
* 40% of all recreational boating fatalities are alcohol related.
* At night... 1 in 5 drivers has been drinking
... 1 in 25 is legally impaired.
* You can be convicted under section 335 of the Criminal Code for joy-riding in a vessel, this includes a paddle-boat.
* In Ontario, it is illegal to have open liquor in a vessel unless the vessel is anchored or moored and has sleeping and cooking facilities. The fine is $125.00.
* OPP Marine Vessel Fatalities for 2001 show 35 fatal marine accidents with 40 people killed. 15 of those fatal accidents involved alcohol.