NSW launches water safety crackdown

Unveiled at the 2019 Sydney International Boat Show, the Maritime Safety Plan 2021 will set the groundwork for Transport for NSW to aim for no fatalities and serious injuries by 2056.

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The new safety blueprint embraces all aspects of boating from commercial craft through to runabouts and paddleboards. Its aim is to make boating safer through education and technology.

The plan will reduce the number of drownings, which has already improved recently in the wake of the NSW government’s life jacket education campaign.

The announcement was made at the 2019 Sydney International Boat Show’s official opening last Friday by NSW parliamentary secretary for transport and roads, Eleni Petinos.

Petinos said the aim of the safety push was "making sure everyone can enjoy our beautiful waterways safely", and also to overcome the fact that eight out of every 10 people who drown in NSW are not wearing a life jacket.

She also made it very clear that waterway authorities would crack down on safety compliance in the coming season.

“Along with not wearing lifejackets, other causes of preventable incidents include excessive speed, having no proper lookout, excessive alcohol consumption and poor judgment," Petinos said.

“Our aim is to reduce serious boating injuries and fatalities by 30 per cent come 2021.

"We are making good progress towards safer waterways but we all need to play our part to encourage a safety-first culture in NSW.”

The plan will launch in October with a series life jacket self-service clinics aimed at teaching water users how to inspect and service the safety devices.

Stage two of the plan will be making people safer through better behaviour in boat handling, complying with safety rules and life jacket wearing.

This will also see more enforcement of speed zones, and on-water drug and alcohol testing.

Personal watercraft (PWC) are one of the fastest-growing boating activities in NSW with 58,000 licensed jet ski drivers.

However, PWCs are over-represented in serious injuries, meaning they will become the focus of a behaviour campaign this coming season.

There will also be a campaign focusing on the safety of people being towed in high-speed turns; the growing popularity of tow-sports beyond traditional waterskiing has opened up the potential for injury especially where skippers are not skilled in towing.

Another welcome move is to make skippers of large semi-displacement cruisers aware of the detrimental effect their vessel's wash can have on other waterway users and the shore-side environment.