Tips on how to end boating fatalities

off a pontoon boat in ocean city. so what needs to be done to stop these accidents from happening? 47 abc’s michelle mackonochie has the story. 06:12:04″please take the moment to make good decisions.”06:12:10 track 1 that’s what maryland district 38 sentator jim mathias believes — could have prevented many of the boating accidents in ocean city. 06:09:12″any time that you have a large population that comes to an area whether it be a resort or residential or urban area you’re going to have incidents.”06:09:23 track 2 on wednesday afternoon — 9-year-old kaden frederick was killed – after police say he sitting — with his feet hanging off the front of a pontoon boat — before he fell and was hit by the boats propeller. candy thompson – spokesperson for maryland department of natural resources tells 47 abc — the child was sitting on the front because the boat was overloaded with seventeen people — thompson also spoke to 47 abc thursday — on boat safety. she says one critically important step to take when going out on the water – wear your life jacket. in the state of maryland – it is required that children wear life jackets — thompson tells 47 abc – just this year – there have been 12 deaths on the water – and none of them were wearing lifejackets. 1:15″you may be the best swimmer.”1:18 buttsot 1:23″but if you fall from a boat if you are incapacitated if you are injured in some way you’re not going to be able to take care of yourself and that’s where life jackets really helps.1:34 track 3 another safety step to take — never sit on the bow of the boat. thompson says it’s illegal. and police will not hesitate to pull you over for it. :35″what needs to change is people’s mindsets quite frankly – we took a long time to get people into the habit of wearing a seat belt – the same thing needs to happen with like jackets.”:53 track 4 michelle mackonochie 47 abc. officials tell 47 abc — frederick was not wearing a life jacket — and although life jackets can save lives in emergency situations — it’s not clear if it would saved his life in this case. no word yet if any charges will be filed at this time. 47 abc was able to find a go fund me account — to cover any costs associated with the young boy’s death. we have a link to that on our website… we can expect partly