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Boating accidents on decline in Iowa
The Department of Natural Resources says the number of boating accidents in Iowa has dropped to a five-year low, but a higher percentage resulted in deaths.
The Des Moines Register reports that there were 36 boating accident this year as of last week, the fewest since at least 2007.
Five people have died in boating accident, which is double the average. That doesn't include a boating death on a private lake in Black Hawk County.
Susan Stocker, who oversees boating law issues for the DNR, notes that the state imposed a law on July 1 that reduced the blood alcohol level at which a boater is considered drunk from 0.10 to 0.08.
The DNR has also increased lake patrols at popular spots.
A boater zooms upstream on the Shell Rock River passing a cornfield in Greene, Iowa, Monday, July 27, 1998. A seven-mile stretch of the river from the Greene dam north is a popular Iowa recreation spot. (AP Photo/The Des Moines Register, Bob Nandell)
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