(Continued from Part 1.) The accessibility and lure of the PWC means that many riders begin to drive and ride the vehicles with no training. Training and experience could help riders cope with the limitations of the device.
Critics point to the crash and injury dangers from PWCs and call the machines’ design flawed and defective. Others laud the design for its ability to create a high performance water vehicle. Our Galveston PWC injury lawyers believe that the truth probably falls somewhere in between.
Manufacturers have been loath to point out the dangers regarding inexperienced riders who might not realize that they lose control of the vehicle’s direction when they lose thrust. If the manufacturers had stepped up to ensure training for all riders, that might not be a problem. But of course, drivers’ training always dulls the thrill even as it increases safety consciousness. And many inexperienced riders, particularly the young, are willing to take the risks of hopping on a PWC to drive fast and perform stunts from the very first ride. Enough of them survive the effort to encourage others to try the same.
Our Galveston PWC injury lawyers understand why accident victims and their families continue to attribute PWC crashes to the vehicles’ design defects. Government agencies take a more statistical approach that distances itself from the victim cost. The government lists the following contributing factors as the major causes of PWC accidents:
In that absence of federal legislation or manufacturers’ steps to make the vehicles and their use safer, some states like Florida and California have stepped up to make laws regulating the use of PWCs in their waters. These laws, for example, limit riders ability to use the vehicles to become airborne, engage in wake jumping or spraying, or operate in close proximity to other vessels, swimmers, or fixed objects.
In the meantime, recreational use of PWCs has jumped, and the numbers of injuries and fatal accidents from their use continues to garner media attention. Victims of PWC crashes continue to file lawsuits against the PWC manufacturers (like Kawasaki, Bombardier, Yamaha, Polaris, and others) to try and recoup their enormous medical and other costs following a PWC accident.
Our Galveston PWC injury lawyers point out that the vast majority of these cases never reach trial and are quietly settled out of court. The PWC consumer and the general public remain blissfully ignorant of the dangers of PWCs and the great numbers of injuries and fatalities that result from their use. Learn about a high-profile PWC injury and fatality case that led to a record jury verdict in the linked article by our Galveston PWC injury lawyers.