Skippers heading north for winter should take 30 Second Challenge

As the boating season begins in the north of the State, the Department of Transport (DoT) is taking to the road and reminding skippers they need to be ready for an emergency on board.

DoT’s safety education team will be in the north of WA this winter visiting boating hotspots urging skippers and their passengers to take the 30 Second Challenge.

DoT Manager of Safety Education Laurie Adams said in an emergency on the water 30 seconds could be all the time skippers and passengers have to grab life-saving safety equipment.

“The 30 Second Challenge tests readiness for an emergency response on board a vessel but until people actually take the challenge on their boat, they don’t know if they will have time to get the gear they need to survive,” Mr Adams said

Safety gear needs to be well maintained and easily accessible if it is to be effective in an emergency situation. In the past financial year 11 people died in recreational boating incidents in WA –  nearly triple the annual average of four deaths.

Mr Adams said the challenge was implemented in response to the detailed analysis of incident data which showed that better maintenance of safety gear and improved accessibility could have limited the number of tragedies.

“The importance of safety gear can never be overstated – tragically eight of the 11 deaths (73 per cent) on WA waters last year may have been prevented if the person had been wearing a lifejacket when they entered the water,” Mr Adams said.

People can visit our website to find out how to take the challenge then like MarineSafetyWA on Facebook to upload it.

DoT Safety Education officers will be encouraging skippers to take the 30 Second Challenge and providing safe boating advice at:
• Indian Ocean Drive locations and Geraldton July 3-5, 2019
• Carnarvon, Coral Bay and Exmouth July 15-22, 2019
• Broome and Derby July 23-31, 2019
• Karratha and Dampier August 1-7,2019.

Further information about locations and times are available here 
 or MarineSafetyWA on Facebook.

Media contact: media@transport.wa.gov.au