Towards Reconstructing Minimum Speeds in Recreational Boating Accidents

The technical literature concerning reconstructing minimum vehicle speeds for land based vehicular accidents is voluminous. In contrast, there has been little formal study of reconstructing recreational boating accidents. This study presents data which can be used to develop recreational boating accident reconstruction techniques. Boat speed and distance from engine disengagement were measured as a function of time for six different recreational boats, at three different initial speeds, with three repeated trials at each speed. The data are compared for similarities and trends across the different boats and speeds. The data are also compared to land-based engineering equations of motion and are examined for basic parameters to use to reconstruct boating accidents.