Twin Cities Life-Jacket Wear-Rate Observational Study, 2007

The 2007 Twin Cities PFD study was designed to answer some basic questions about PFD wear-rates. The first question concerned the frequency with which boaters wear PFDs and the factors that influence wear-rates.; Two types of wear-rates were of interest: overall, which includes all boaters; and voluntary, which excludes boaters required by law to wear a PFD.; Factors measured that might influence wear-rates included time and place items, ambient conditions (e.g., water temperature), boat-related variables, and boater characteristics.

The study was large.; It included nearly 600 hours of field observations, during which 6,700 boats were observed with nearly 18,000 boaters on board. ;A question the study wanted to answer is: How small could the study have been to provide reasonable estimates of just the overall and voluntary wear-rates both in the Twin Cities and other regions of the state?

The boater observational methods for the study were modeled on the National PFD Wear-Rate Study conducted by JSI Research and Training Institute for the U.S. Coast Guard. The study was funded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Boating Safety Program.; A private contract was hired and trained by DNR staff to conduct the field work for the study.

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