{"id":281199,"date":"2026-05-22T19:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/281199\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T19:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:28:11","slug":"florida-among-the-worst-states-for-boating-accident-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/281199\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida among the worst states for boating accident costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

And those costs are going up.<\/p>\n

Florida is a boater\u2019s paradise. But mistakes come at a high cost.<\/p>\n

A new study shows the Sunshine State has the third-highest costs of any state when it comes to boating property damage. The analysis was conducted by Steve Gimblin Personal Injury and Car Accident Lawyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The findings<\/a> concluded that Florida racked up $74.7 million in boating property damage between 2020 and 2024. That figure accounted for more than 22% of the total amount of property damage associated with boating accidents in the U.S. Unsurprisingly, that\u2019s more than any other state.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s year-over-year damage grew by 75.3% in the half-decade. And the state posted the highest total property damage amount associated with boating accidents in every year of the study.<\/p>\n

The study looked at U.S. Coast Guard<\/a> property damage in boating incidents from all 50 states to develop a composite vessel risk score. The key factor on ranking the states was per-capita damage rates.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Florida posted $63,923 in boating damage per 100,000 people in the state. That amounted to a total boating risk score of 68.4.<\/p>\n

But Florida\u2019s risk score was behind South Carolina\u2019s figure of 75.2 and Maryland\u2019s score of 68.9.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s dominance in boating mishaps and associated costs is unparalleled and is likely to increase, said Steve Gimblin, founder of the law firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida\u2019s dominance in boating property damage isn\u2019t just about more boats on the water \u2014 it reflects a growing gap between activity and safety. A 75% surge in costs over five years signals that accidents are becoming more frequent, more severe, or both. Without stronger enforcement and better awareness, the financial impact on boaters and businesses will continue to escalate,\u201d Gimblin said in a news release.<\/p>\n

The law firm advised that boating accidents have many costs that most people don\u2019t consider. The financial consequences begin with initial property damage, but extend to repair, replacement, legal liability, increasing insurance, and medical and lost employment expenses.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And those costs are going up. Florida is a boater\u2019s paradise. But mistakes come at a high cost.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[119799,28,30,29,68140,119800,119801,1801,119802,119803,21351,31594],"class_list":["post-281199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-boating-property-damage","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-maryland","tag-per-capita-damage","tag-risk-score","tag-south-carolina","tag-steve-gimblin","tag-steve-gimblin-personal-injury-and-car-accident-lawyers","tag-u-s-coast-guard","tag-vessel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}