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Subject: Re: TWL: RE: Re: PFD's for children - required
From: Alex Hirsekorn (alexh@XXX.XXX)
Date: Sat Mar 02 2002 - 11:43:03 EST
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Timpano" <ftimpano@XXX.XXX>
> It's not a matter of risk mitigation or management. It is based on the
fact
> that children don't know any better and can't make the choice to wear a
PFD
> on their own. Adults take that risk or wear the PFD voluntarily.
Hi Frank,
That's an excellent point.
I hesitate to add anything further since I don't have children and since
it's been a long time since I was one. Lack of qualifications has never
stopped me before though, so:
Another reason to treat children differently has to do with body size. In
our waters and in most of the US west coast waters it's not drowning that
gets you if you fall overboard. Around here hypothermia and cold shock are
the primary dangers. Because children have smaller bodies and (normally) far
less body fat than adults they have less resistance to the cold. As we all
know, hypothermia makes it more difficult to help yourself and it also makes
it more difficult to make good decisions about how to help yourself. It's
also pretty well accepted that a PFD will provide significant insulation as
well as helping to keep the victim afloat. So children, with less natural
insulation and (presumably) poorer decision making ability, will benefit
more from wearing a PFD than will an adult.
While I was writing that paragraph it occurred to me that my description of
a child's susceptibility to hypothermia would also apply to a drunk adult.
Since, however, it's already illegal to operate a boat while intoxicated (It
IS illegal isn't it?) and it would be impractical (legally) to require that
drunk adult passengers wear PFD's we'll just have to think of those sorts of
casualties as evolution in action.
Coldly yours,
Alex
P.S. That requiring children to wear PFD's is a new regulation is a bit
confusing to me. Five or six years ago we had a young man (12 years old) as
a guest aboard. At that time we were told that it was a requirement that he
wear a PFD on deck. Was that a Washington State law only at the time?
ibid
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