(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Lake Michigan is one of the highlights of living in the Chicago area, but after multiple drownings over the past few days, experts are again reminding local residents how they can stay safe out on the water.
Dave Benjamin is a co-founder of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, which tracks drownings all across the Great Lakes.
“Lake Michigan has been the deadliest Great Lake since we began tracking drownings in 2010,” he told WBBM.
He said most fatalities involve victims not wearing life jackets and added that nearly half of all boating fatalities are alcohol-related.
“Imagine trying to put your seatbelt on during a car crash,” he said. “It’s the same thing. Trying to put a life jacket on during an emergency boating incident is not going to happen.”
Benjamin added that people wearing a life jacket only account for 1% of drowning victims.
Another issue: Beachgoers often forget to think about an important factor before going into the lake, such as the direction of the wind.
“When people are going to the beach, they’re thinking about the weather as: ‘Is it going to be hot; is it going to be sunny,’” he said. “They’re not thinking about, ‘Which way is the wind blowing,’ and that’s a huge problem.”
Wind blowing away from the shore could spell trouble, as it pulls toys, rafts and humans away to go far from the beach.
If individuals do find themselves in a dangerous situation, Benjamin said it may take more than simply knowing how to swim to survive.
“Knowing how to run doesn’t mean you can run a marathon; knowing how to swim doesn’t mean you know how to survive the marathon of a drowning incident,” he said. “You have to have water safety education and a strategy like flip, float and follow.”
In 2023, 41 people drowned in Lake Michigan, according to data from the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project. That accounted for nearly half of all Great Lakes drownings. In 2022, 45 people drowned in Lake Michigan.
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