On January 11, 2002, three employees and one customer of a company manufacturer that manufactures high performance speed boats were testing the performance of a speedboat engine on a lake.
At the time of the accident, the boat flipped, capsized and sank in the lake. All four suffered blunt trauma injuries throughout their bodies and drowned at the scene. The boat was traveling in excess of the 35 mph speed limit set on the lake.
What went wrong?
Based on the available information, it is likely that: 1) the speedboat was traveling at a speed far in excess of the posted speed limit, and that 2) none of the persons in the boat was wearing appropriate safety equipment (or any safety equipment at all).
Participants in high-speed boat races wear safety clothing and equipment comparable to or exceeding that of race car drivers. Although the risk of burning fuel in a boat crash is not as great as that of race cars, there is less protection from the blunt force of the crash itself than in cars, which today are built to absorb much of the impact of a crash.
If they were not using seat belts and wearing crash helmets, the occupants of the speedboat had little chance of surviving the crash of a boat that goes airborne.
