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Water safety
When boating or swimming...
To help you have an accident-free summer, SMUD and DART, the Drowning Accident Rescue Team, are bringing you these water safety tips. Please read and practice them to keep your outdoor activities fun.
- Wear personal flotation devices (PFDs). Most drowning victims would be alive today if they had.
- Insist that all boat passengers wear Coast Guard-approved PFDs or flotation garments.
- Avoid mixing alcoholic beverages with aquatic activities such as swimming, fishing and boating.
- If you are a boat owner, participate in a boating safety class.
- Learn how to enter the water properly, falling backwards while covering nose and mouth with hand.
- Practice a safety back float with all your clothes on.
- Enroll in a Red Cross, YMCA or community recreation program that teaches basic swimming skills.
- Practice using throw-line bags, ring buoys and other flotation aids with your family.
- Become familiar with the four behaviors associated with a drowning victim; head back, mouth open, flailing arms and no sound.
- Discuss hypothermia and its effects during an unexpected immersion.
- Practice survival strategies before your life depends on them.
- Automobile passengers are at best advantage if they have seat belts on when car enters the water. They limit personal trauma, help keep the victim in a familiar location and keep them conscious while determining how to get out.
- Most alert, conscious victims can open car doors and windows under water or push out the windshield at a corner.
- Panic is the swimmer's worst enemy. Relax and work with the water in a logical plan.
This information is provided by SMUD and DART, the Drowning Accident Rescue Team. For more information, contact DART at 916.732.4500.
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