FAIRBANKS — Alaska State Troopers gave 31 tickets — at $110 apiece — for violations of life jacket regulations Saturday on the Chena River.
Capt. Burke Waldron, in Anchorage, said Tuesday troopers picked a nice day to patrol a river popular with recreational boaters.
“There is no dedicated campaign going on,” he said. “There was a high level of traffic on the river.”
Waldron said the law requires boaters younger than 13 years old to wear a life jacket when in open-decked boats, including rafts and canoes. The law also requires a boat to have at least one flotation device for each person on board. Flotation cushions count for adults, he said.
Because of the cold water, Alaskans are generally better about wearing life jackets than people in other states, Waldron said.
“But especially in rural Alaska, we have some life-jacket issues,” he said. “A lot of people don't think that $49.95 raft they bought at Wal-Mart requires a life jacket.”
Troopers patrolling the Chena on Saturday also charged a boater with possession of marijuana. The same evening, a man drowned after he fell out of his canoe on Olnes Pond off the Elliott Highway, and troopers said alcohol was involved.
There also is a misconception that operating a non-motorized boat under the influence of drugs or alcohol is not a crime, Waldron said. Troopers plan to be out in greater numbers June 24-26 to crack down on boating under the influence of drugs or alcohol, he said.
There have now been two recreational boating deaths in Alaska this season, said Jeff Johnson with the Alaska Office of Boating Safety, the agency that provides life jackets for the Kids Don't Float kiosks. Like nine out of 10 such accidents in the state, both victims were adult men, he said.
“This is right along our regular fatality profile for the season,” he said “It's unfortunate, because it's very preventable.”
The most important way to avoid such deaths is to have life jackets on your boat, he said.
Recreational boating accidents have claimed 162 lives in the last 10 years, far more lives than commercial fishing accidents. People often are surprised to hear that recreational boating accidents occur as frequently in fresh water as in salt water, Johnson said.
In a filing made today with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, PSE&G has proposed to lower winter natural gas bills this fall by an additional 1.1 percent for residential customers. If the request is approved by the BPU, it will result in the seventh decrease in a row in natural gas supply charges, for a total savings of 32 percent since January 2009, when wholesale prices started to drop. The latest decrease would be on top of 16 percent decreases implemented in 2010.
In addition, a reduction in electric prices, approved previously by the BPU, takes effect today. As a result, a typical PSE&G residential electric customer's monthly summer bill will be reduced from $147.77 per month to $140.50 per month, a decrease of 4.9 percent. On an annual basis, that customer's electric bill will decrease by 3.5 percent.
Under the proposal to further reduce gas prices, a typical residential heating customer using 160 therms in a winter month, or 1,050 therms per year, would see a bill decrease of $13.56 on an annual basis. This customer's monthly winter bill would be $181.88, a decline of $2.06.
The company has asked that the gas reduction take effect on October 1. If approved, the typical residential customer who receives both electric and gas from PSE&G will see a total annual bill savings of $62.72 or 2.4 percent.
PSE&G makes no profit on the sale of natural gas. The company passes along what it pays to customers.