Survey shows Wear It! campaign effective in promoting life jackets

WASHINGTON, DC — A survey of recreational boaters found the North American Safe Boating Campaign continues to have a positive impact on boater behavior. The yearlong campaign promotes safe and responsible boating and the value of voluntary life jacket wear by recreational boaters through the national theme, Wear It!

The annual Wear It! Awareness Survey conducted by Paul Werth Associates on behalf of the National Safe Boating Council, sought to determine the campaign’s effectiveness, specifically the impact on life jacket wear, attitudes and safety behavior of boaters.

“It is crucial to get an accurate view of how boaters are behaving when preparing or getting on the water and how they feel about wearing life jackets,” said Rachel Johnson, executive director of the National Safe Boating Council.

Leveraging a team of trained volunteers, 605 on-site surveys were collected at 19 different bodies of water in seven states. Based on the locations’ level of Wear It! campaign activity, the bodies of water were classified as no, medium or high activity. To read the Wear It! Awareness Survey full report, visit http://www.safeboatingcampaign.com/newsrelease.htm.

“The survey reinforces the importance of the Wear It! campaign’s educational efforts on new, comfortable styles of life jackets, including inflatable life jackets,” said Johnson.

Key survey findings:

• Participants aware of the campaign are significantly more likely to wear life jackets always or most of the time versus those unaware of the campaign.
• Boaters at high campaign activity locations are also significantly more likely to agree that “it is important for me as a boater to encourage others to wear life jackets at all times when boating or fishing.”
• Boaters at high campaign activity locations are significantly more likely than other boaters to wear their life jackets “always or most of the time” versus boaters at no campaign activity locations.

“This survey helps demonstrate the impact of the Wear It! message, especially in no campaign activity locations, to prevent future fatalities by increasing the number of people wearing life jackets,” concluded Johnson.