Sobering legal article

This is a sad story and the right decision but the very concerning part of this decision is the judges comments:

“It is my view from a common sense perspective, canoeing is an extremely dangerous activity even in favourable conditions,” he wrote. “In many ways the risks and dangers involved in canoeing are greater than those involved in driving a motor vehicle such that impairment caused by the consumption of alcohol and marijuana can and often do cause serious bodily harm and death.”

Canoeing as an extremely dangerous activity? Dangers involved are greater than those involved in driving a motor vehicle? REALLY????

Bruce
 
It's really sad when people, apparently, inject opinion where facts would be more useful. The judge seems to suggest that consumption of alcohol and other mild-altering substances are particularly a problem for paddlers, but if I'm not mistaken these activities may also have harmful effects on drivers. But more to the point, a quick look at data seems to refute the statement about canoeing being more dangerous than motor vehicle travel. Drawing from data collected by the USDOT and the US Coast Guard (had to do some number crunching to get here... correct me if I made any errors), :

- in 2017 there were 13 deaths per 100,000 registered terrestrial motor vehicles
- in 2017 there were 5.5 deaths per 100,000 registered watercraft
- only 24% of watercraft-related deaths in 2017 were from canoeing/kayaking

Of course not all motor vehicles and canoes/kayaks in use are registered, and not all register motor vehicles and canoes/kayaks are used. It may be challenging to compare (apples to oranges); maybe if date were reported per unit time engaged in these activities. Still, at a glance it doesn't seem that canoeing and kayaking are grossly more dangerous than taking to the roads.

In any case, please don't drink and paddle.
 
The questions seem to boil down to, (ignoring the judge’s somewhat distorted, misleading views) whether a canoe, kayak and SUP and other generally paddle driven craft come under ‘vessel’ (they all do, excepting if a board is being used for surfing not excursioning, both in Canada and in the USA) and whether operating while impared by drugs or alcohol as a legally defined criminal act can occur in such a vessel (which it can). I wish the judgement would be appealed so the first judge’s rationale can be reformulated.
 
A couple of thoughts based on a lifetime in small boats and decades in law enforcement and rescue.
The stats are really hard to compare, especially considering the ratio of hours of use, the public spends many times more hours in cars than canoes.
The last time I read water sport death stats, PWCs led by far. I'm still surprised that kayaks and canoes account for 1/4 of boating deaths. Probably because the margin of safety from drowning or hypothermia is slim. I do think that a very significant difference between intoxication in powered and unpowered vehicles is that in paddle craft or bicycles you can pretty much only harm yourself. "Out of control canoe kills five" would make a great headline, but it's rather unlikely.
I don't advocate intoxication at any time, especially on the water or the road.
 
1. The stats are really hard to compare, especially considering the ratio of hours of use, the public spends many times more hours in cars than canoes.

2. The last time I read water sport death stats, PWCs led by far.

3. I'm still surprised that kayaks and canoes account for 1/4 of boating deaths.
Probably because the margin of safety from drowning or hypothermia is slim.

4. I do think that a very significant difference between intoxication in powered and unpowered vehicles is that in paddle craft or bicycles you can pretty much only harm yourself.

1. Agreed; fatalities per 100,000 hours of operation is one way to normalize exposure for comparative purposes but is difficult to capture. But gross averages still bury much of the nuances of factors and root causes, correlations vs. cause-effect, etc. (beginners versus experts, weather and water temperature, remoteness vs density)

2. PWCs are like motorcycles in that there is lots of kinetic energy and vulnerability.

3. Boats are bigger ‘lifeboats’ than are paddle craft so have a higher survivability rating. Paddle craft and inflatables can take operators into the same dangerous water conditions as motorized craft. ‘Don’t bring only a knife to a gun fight.’

4. In the legal case in the article, the responsible adult endangered a minor in his care. Had the drowning victim been an adult, the judgement might have been a bit different (?). The adult could well have been operating a power boat with a minor resulting in the same fatal outcome. So it’s not the type of vessel so much as the lack of due diligence exercise on the the part of the vessel master. Canoes have less of a margin of error, but I don’t buy that they’re inherently dangerous or hazardous like the judge asserted; it depends on the operator.
 
THIS ARTICLE reports that the drunken canoeist, David Sillars, had been free on $1,500 bail for three years, since his conviction and six year jail sentence in June 2019 until the Court of Appeal of Ontario upheld his conviction in July 2022. The appellate court agreed with the trial judge that a canoe was a "vessel" for purposes of driving while impaired under the Criminal Code.

The article contains many facts as to the recklessness of Sillars' conduct in canoeing that particular day in April 2017 on the swollen, fast currents of the Muskoka River above High Falls in near freezing air temperature. That recklessness does not go to the issue of whether a canoe is a vessel; rather, it relates to Sillars' separate conviction for criminal negligence resulting in death. Criminal negligence can be charged against any sufficiently reckless or wanton conduct that endangers life or human safety wholly independent of vessels and intoxication.
 
Having presented to the 2022 on Pub Paddling here in the UK I thought I would chip in.

From afar I have read both links with interest. The guy was clearly off his head on drugs and booze and the weather/water conditions were awful. His judgement was clearly impaired.

Over here we have pubs all along the waterways as they were part and parcel of the development of the navigation system. It's a "use it or lose it " situation in the UK with many hostelries so there is nothing wrong with taking a pint and a lunch on a canoe trip. We all know our limits and the nature of our fellow paddlers is that if you have had "one over the eight" your buddies will lay you in the bottom of the canoe and get you home.

DSC_5191.jpeg


Happy New Year from the UK. Looking forward to the Assembly in July.

Nick
 
Over here we have pubs all along the waterways as they were part and parcel of the development of the navigation system.
Nick

Can you share a link here to the UK legislation regarding small pleasure boat safety regulations or code? (I’m only familiar with commercial boating and inland waterway rules for canal boat.) Are (Canadian) canoes considered as ‘vessels’ such that their operation while ‘legally impaired’ is an indictable (criminal) offence?
 
Back
Top