Boats, jet-skis, Sea-Doos, and other personal watercrafts are fun summer activities, but accidents involving these crafts can be very serious. Even when you take all of the precautions and exercise safe boating and watercraft practices, sometimes accidents happen. For instance, reckless operator errors or defective equipment can easily turn a fun day on the lake into a nightmare.
What Are Common Water Sport Injuries?
Some of the most common causes of Watercraft/Water Sports Injuries are:
- Drunk boat or jet-ski drivers
- Lack of knowledge of safe boating/watercraft practices
- Failure to understand the dangers associated with boating/watercraft
- Horseplay
- Inattention
- Defective Equipment
Although both are illegal, people are generally more careless about drinking and driving a boat or jet-ski than they are with a car. But as with car accidents, boating and watercraft accidents involve a question of liability and victims of these accidents have the ability to hold the responsible party civilly liable for the harm they caused. This is where hiring an experienced personal injury attorney is critical.
What Should I Do If I’m Injured in a Watersport Accident?
If you or a family member were injured in an accident involving a boat or a personal watercrafts such as jet-skis or Sea-Doos, you should first seek medical care for those injuries. Next, making sure to obtain and preserve any evidence of the accident and injuries is important. This includes filing a police report, documenting any damage, taking pictures, and keeping related medical records.
If the case involves a defect in the watercraft, it is imperative that the watercraft be obtained and stored so that a complete investigation into any potential defects with the watercraft can be determined. At Van Wey, Metzler & Williams, we often hire independent experts to investigate the incident and provide an opinion for the case.
How Do I Find a Lawyer?
While you should always follow safe boating and watercraft practices such as wearing life jackets, participating in safety courses, and not drinking and boating – some things are out of your control. Van Wey, Metzler & Williams has a group of watersport injury attorneys who are very experienced in representing good people who sustained serious injuries, and the families of those who have been fatally injured.
Contact us below for a no-cost, initial consultation with an experienced Dallas watersport injury attorney.
We are here for you. Call us today!