COLUMBIA RIVER - The instructors, crew and students of the National Motor Lifeboat School, Ilwaco, Wash., practice at the entrance of the Columbia River Bar on Feb. 08, 2011. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Jamie Thielen.

U.S. Coast Guard: Even the best boat drivers wear life jackets!

As part of National Safe Boating Week 2017, the Coast Guard is highlighting the North American Safe Boating’s Wear it! campaign. Statistics show that drowning was the reported cause of death in three-fourths of recreational boating fatalities in 2015, and that 85 percent of those who drowned were not wearing life jackets.