What are the Consequences of Boating Under the Influence?

It's estimated that operating a boat while impaired is the reason behind over a third of fatal boat accidents every year. In fact, operating a boat with a blood alcohol content (BAC) at or in excess of .08% makes boat operators ten times more susceptible to getting into an accident compared to sober boaters.

Same Penalty as DUI Offenses 

If you are found guilty of operating a boat while under the influence of alcohol, you could be subject to many of the same fines and penalties as operating a car while intoxicated. You could face imprisonment or a revocation of your license for operating a boat while intoxicated. It's important to note that in the state of Maryland boats are considered motor vehicles and therefore subject to the same DUI laws as cars.

You can't legally get behind the wheel with a BAC at or exceeding .08% as an adult driver. The same goes for operating a boat. In Maryland you will be arrested for drunk driving if you are caught operating a boat at or beyond the .08% BAC threshold. There are some key differences between boats and cars with respect to DUI charges, however.

Lower Degree of Probable Cause 

An officer pulling you over on the highways will give you a field sobriety test and make other qualitative judgments about your impairment to establish probable cause. Without probable cause, a police officer can't make an arrest or bring you in for urine, chemical and breath tests. With respect to establishing probable cause for DUIs and boating, though, the laws are much more lax. The US Coast Guard and local police can pull over a boat without first establishing probable cause.

If fact, the majority of boat operators eventually charged with DUIs are first stopped for routine boat inspections. The takeaway lesson is that although boating can be recreational and a great way to blow off stream on the weekends, the same steep repercussions to drinking and driving apply to operating a boat while intoxicated.

Operating Under the Influence (OUI) Repercussions 

In Maryland, though, the boating equivalent to a driving under the influence charge is a operating under the influence (OUI) charge. So, although the terminology between DUI and OUI may differ, along with how probable cause is established, both driving and boating while impaired come with the same set of repercussions.

The Maryland Natural Resources Police Department or Coast Guard could stop you for any reason. Just operating a boat constitutes implied consent for drug and alcohol exams, which could include an on-the-spot field sobriety test.

Because simply owning a boat in Maryland constitutes implied consent, as opposed to more rigorous probable cause procedures for operating a car, if the officer thinks you could be operating your boat drunk, the officer could insist on a field sobriety test as well as a mandatory breathalyzer test.

It's been said that boating under the influence impairs an operator's judgment, coordination, reaction time and even peripheral vision. Maryland's Natural Resources Police Department and the US Coast Guard treat boating under the influence so seriously because statistically boating while intoxicated is ten times more dangerous than operating a boat sober.

If you're found operating a boat while under the influence in Maryland you could face severe fines and even imprisonment. Loss of boating privileges and community service are usually the first punishments, and imprisonment may be the next step if you already have a DUI or OUI on your record. Maryland also enforces compulsory counseling for drug and alcohol-related offenses.