Boating Safety : River Dams Pose Special Kinds of Risk to Boaters

Steve Lombardi

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 335

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On July 30^th 2009 at about 7:30 p.m. a man riding a personal watercraft in the Cedar River died after getting to close to a dam and getting sucked under. While his name hasn’t been released the police have stated that he was wearing a life vest but the undercurrent was too strong. Mr. Buelow a Fire Department spokesman stated that, “roller dams have a re-circulating current and anything drawn into the current is pulled under and barreled into a wall”. One has to wonder what kind of safety precautions are set up to avoid things like this; are there clear markers of where riders should and shouldn’t be riding, is it safe to even be on a personal watercraft in this area, was there something that could have been done differently? Whatever the reason this is a tragic and untimely end to a life.