New Jersey drivers could lose licence by drunken boating

Residents of the US state of New Jersey could lose their license to drive an automobile if convicted of operating a boat while drunk.

Between six and 20 arrests are made in New Jersey each year for operating a boat while impaired by alcohol, said Sgt Christopher Jones of the New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau. These arrests usually occur after police stop boaters for another offence.

A conviction for boating while impaired by alcohol carries severe penalties. According to Jones, if convicted of operating a boat while impaired by alcohol “and your blood alcohol content is .08 percent but less than 1 percent, you can lose your driving privileges for up to three months and you lose your boating privileges for up to one year.”

He added, “In cases where your blood alcohol content is 1.0 or greater, you’ll lose your driving privileges for up to seven months to a year. And for subsequent infractions and higher blood-alcohol concentrations, those penalties would increase.”

There are many deaths across the US each year due to boating while impaired by alcohol. In a high-profile incident last year, baseball pitcher José Fernández of the Miami Marlins, and two others were killed when their boat smashed into a jetty in Miami Beach. Police officials said post-mortem tests found that Fernández had high levels of cocaine and alcohol in his system.

US Coast Guard data show that about 75% of boating accidents involve alcohol use.