Tag: Boat crash

Categories
Cottage Life

Transport Canada considers making lifejackets mandatory on recreational boats

Photo by Keith Levit/Shutterstock

Transport Canada, which oversees both recreational and commercial vessel safety, is asking members of the Canadian Marine Advisory Council (CMAC) to weigh in on whether all boaters, including those in human-powered vessels, such as canoes and kayaks, should be legally required to wear a lifejacket while out on the water.

The CMAC is comprised of parties with interests in shipping, navigation, and marine pollution, and it advises the federal government on marine safety and security issues. During the council’s fall 2022 meeting, Transport Canada asked members to provide comments on a list of regulations the agency had developed around lifejackets.

The proposed regulations included the following:

Age requirements:

  • Require the mandatory wearing of a PFD or a lifejacket for any person aged 14 years or younger on board a pleasure craft; or
  • Require the mandatory wearing of a PFD or a lifejacket for any person aged 18 years or younger on board a pleasure craft.

Vessel size requirements:

  • Require the mandatory wearing of a PFD or a lifejacket for any person on board any pleasure craft six metres in length and below; or
  • Require the mandatory wearing of a PFD or a lifejacket for any person on board any pleasure craft nine metres in length and below

Vessel-type requirements:

  • Require the mandatory wearing of a PFD or a lifejacket for any person on board any motorized vessel (i.e. powerboats); or
  • Require the mandatory wearing of a PFD or a lifejacket for any person on board any motorized vessel (i.e. powerboats) and human-powered vessel (i.e. canoes, kayaks)

Transport Canada asked members to submit answers about which regulations they supported, any they disagreed with, or any proposed variations to the regulations by February 20.

Transport Canada started floating the idea of making lifejackets mandatory on recreational boats in 2018 when it hired a behavioural scientist to conduct an online survey assessing the perception recreational boaters had of lifejackets. The agency also sent out boating safety officers to public locations to record the number of people wearing lifejackets.

Using the data collected, Transport Canada crafted its proposed lifejacket regulations, and is now gathering feedback from safety organizations and industry partners.

Currently, boaters are required to have a lifejacket on board for each person, but the lifejackets don’t have to be worn. Although, in 2022, MPP Norm Miller brought forward the Lifejackets for Life Act in the Canadian Parliament,  which would require children 12 or younger to wear a lifejacket while on a recreational boat. Not complying with the Act could land you a fine of $200.

According to Transport Canada, wearing a lifejacket can be the difference between life and death, especially in cold water. “This is true despite the boater’s experience, closeness to shore, and even swimming ability. A sudden fall into cold water can seriously affect breathing, nerves, and muscle strength. A lifejacket gives you thermal protection as well as keeping you buoyant. Most recreational boaters who die on the water each year in Canada are not wearing flotation devices or are not wearing them properly,” the agency said on its website.

Last year, the Ontario Provincial Police reported 29 boating-related fatalities. Of those 29 people who died, 26 weren’t wearing a lifejacket.

After February 20, when Transport Canada has received feedback from CMAC members, the agency will open the proposed lifejacket regulations to public review and comment through its Let’s Talk Transportation website.

“Input received on these options, and the issue of mandatory wear in general, will inform potential regulatory amendments, including the approach taken towards potential non-compliance with any future regulations,” the agency said in an email.

Need more news?

Find your cottage state of mind all year round with our weekly newsletter, Dockside

Sign up here

Categories
Cottage Life

Man charged in fatal boat crash on Lake Ontario that killed 2 people

Photo by Shutterstock/LouiesWorld1

Toronto police have arrested and charged a Mississauga man in connection with a boat crash that happened two months ago in Toronto’s Port Lands, leaving two dead.

Around midnight on May 31, the police, fire services, and paramedics responded to reports of a capsized boat in Lake Ontario just off the shoreline of Tommy Thompson Park.

The boat, which was carrying 10 people, had been heading into the nearby harbour when it flipped over after striking breakwater wall, police say. Eight of the 10 people in the boat were rescued by emergency personnel, but a 34-year-old man and 24-year-old woman were missing.

The police’s marine unit started searching the area for the two missing boaters. Both the man and woman were later found dead trapped inside the boat after police removed it from the lake.

On July 29, Toronto police arrested 38-year-old Filip Grkovski in connection with the crash. Police charged him with two counts of criminal negligence causing death, four counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, two counts of impaired operation causing death, and four counts of impaired operation causing bodily harm.

Grkovski will face these charges at College Park Courts on October 4.

Police ask that anyone with information relevant to the crash contact them at 416-808-1900, or do so anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.

Categories
Cottage Life

OPP honours 7 individuals for lifesaving actions in fatal Lake Rosseau boat crash

Photo Courtesy of OPP

On May 26, Jon Duff received a Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving at the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Central Region Awards after rescuing victims of a fatal boat crash that occurred last summer on Lake Rosseau.

The citation is a provincial award presented once a year to members of the community who perform outstanding deeds in regard to lifesaving. It’s an honour. One that recognizes the courage and quick thinking in a moment of heightened stress.

But when you ask Duff, a volunteer firefighter with the Muskoka Lakes fire department, about the award, he’s quick to downplay the achievement. “It was humbling,” he says. “I mean, we were just doing what we’re supposed to do and what a lot of first responders do every day. But it was nice to be recognized.”

Duff’s fiancé, Lindy Gale; his coworker, Mike Gilligan; his neighbour, Justin Bifolchi; and his neighbour’s friend Matthew LeNormand, also received the Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving for their roles in the rescue effort.

The crash in question occurred around 7:30 p.m. on July 14, 2021, near Windermere Marina. Duff and Gale were relaxing at their property on Lake Rosseau just around the corner from the marina when Duff got a call from his fire station. There’d been a boating accident and possible drowning. The fire department needed emergency responders to help with the situation.

At that same moment, Duff’s neighbour, Bifolchi, was docking his motor boat with his friend LeNormand. Duff, who doesn’t own a motorized boat, explained to Bifolchi what had happened and asked if he could use his boat to respond to the call. The three men, plus Gale, who’s a registered practical nurse at Huntsville Hospital, hopped in the boat and headed towards the main staging area for the emergency services dealing with the accident. Along the way, they picked up Mike Gilligan, a fellow volunteer firefighter, to assist with the situation.

When they arrived at the main staging area, those coordinating the rescue told Duff to retrieve an out-of-control boat. Arriving at the scene of the accident, Duff says it was chaos.

“As we got close to the boat, it was spinning, and we could tell that there were people still on board, which nobody had thought was the case,” he says.

The boat was moving in erratic circles at high speeds, edging closer to shore. Part of the boat was crushed from where a second boat had collided and run over the top of it. Duff, who was driving Bifolchi’s boat, edged closer, while Gilligan stood near the bow with a long line of thick rope from the fire department. He threw the rope in front of the out-of-control boat, trying to get it to drive over the rope so that it would catch in the propeller, stopping the motor.

It took a few attempts, but eventually, Gilligan managed to halt the boat. Inside was a 13-year-old girl who later died of her injuries. The girl’s mother was airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto with life-threatening injuries. And the son was retrieved from the water by bystanders.

The second boat in the accident also involved a mother and two children. This boat had capsized nearby, sending all three into the water. The two children suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were rescued by bystanders. Their mother, a 51-year-old from Oakville, went missing during the accident. Her body was found the next day by OPP divers.

“It was a chaotic moment. But we just did our best to make sure everyone was okay, and to do it the safest way possible,” Duff says. “But yeah, it ended up being a sad day for sure.”

John Brackett and Elle Hawtin were also awarded the Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving for their roles in the rescue effort. The full list of awardees can be found here.

Categories
Cottage Life

Two fatal boating incidents claim 3 lives in Ontario

Photo by eskystudio/Shutterstock

Disclaimer: The following details may be disturbing to some readers.

Three people have died in two separate boating incidents in Southern Ontario over the past week. The first involved a power boat that Toronto Police say hit a breakwater wall at Tommy Thompson Park on Lake Ontario and subsequently capsized the night of May 31.

Tommy Thompson Park on a map
Photo courtesy of Google Maps

There were 10 people on board at the time of the crash, and eight were rescued from the water and from the boat by Toronto Police’s Marine Unit. It took police several hours before they found a 34-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman dead inside the boat. The young woman has been identified by her parents as Megan Wu, and a gofundme has been set up by her family to help with the legal investigation and civil case. According to her father’s post on gofundme, her body was found after the boat was lifted out of the water. She was trapped below deck and unable to escape the wreck. Toronto Police say the investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.

Megan Wu is pictured here in a photo posted to a gofundme account by her father, William Wu. Photo courtesy of William Wu/Gofundme

Over the weekend, on June 4, a 33-year-old Mississauga man died after the inflatable dinghy he was in with his seven-year-old daughter overturned in the Eramosa River at Rockwood Conservation Area, northeast of Guelph. OPP Const. Joshua Cunningham confirmed that the man was not wearing a lifejacket at the time, but the daughter was. Both were pulled from the water by bystanders, and the man was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The daughter was treated for minor injuries at the scene.

As the weather becomes nicer and more people hit the water, Cunningham wants to stress the importance of wearing a lifejacket.

“We see a lot of times where the parents put a lifejacket on their kids but not themselves and you need to also look out for yourself,” he said. “A lifejacket doesn’t do a whole lot of good unless it’s on properly.”

Wellington County Ontario Provincial Police are still trying to piece together what led to the man’s death and are asking the people who witnessed the event to contact them using the non-emergency line at 1-888-310-1122.

Rockwood Conservation Area
Photo by Google Maps