In this article,we had described Which of the following statements about PFDs is true?.
What statement about PFDs is true?
Personal flotation devices don’t float well in shallow water.
In the water, putting on a PFD is difficult.
Children’s life jackets should fit loosely.
PFDs are difficult to put on in the water.
In the water, children’s PFDs should fit loosely.
Citation: Dankovich I, Trost S. Children’s life jacket fit and positioning can reduce self-rescue capability during a simulated boating scenario. Wilderness Environ Med 2012;23(2):141-4. DOI: 10.1016/j.wem.2011.12.006
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Statements about PFDs
Once in the water, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to put on a life jacket. While you are wearing a personal flotation device, your clothing is soaked and pulling down. When it comes to vests and water wings (arm bars), you can simply throw yourself on top of the PFD without having to actually put it on. But that might be difficult. The PFD and boat safety manuals recommend that you wear a PFD and stay in a boat.
I once had a life jacket with a lanyard. The idea was that I would hook it over the railing and then I wouldn’t have to put it on. The problem with that was that you need two hands to pull yourself up onto the side of a boat, but where were your arms going to be when you hooked yourself in? Plus, try putting one hand behind your back and pulling the lanyard from underneath your armpit! Some boaters come up with clever ideas about wearing their vests or PFDs in all kinds of ways: they will string them through belt loops, they will put it in a backpack, they will wrap it around their waist their jeans or slacks. They think they are being clever, but I saw some of those boaters dump their boats out in the water.
My idea for wearing a PFD is simple: Put it on before you get into the boat! It’s kind of like putting on your seatbelt. You don’t wait until you are getting into the car to put your seat belt on, you put it on BEFORE getting into the car! If you happen to fall off before even getting onto the boat, then you have already had it on.
While walking over to my boat one morning with my buddy at Lake Chelan, he pointed out that I was not wearing my life jacket. He thought I would be more likely to wear one if I was wearing it all the time. He was right, but I have had several instances where I thought it might be nice to not wear one for a bit. My first thought is usually “I’m not getting on the water!” But then life happens and you are tempted, so after some research I made some changes.
The vest can be made into an arm bar by about any means necessary. I use Velcro. Why didn’t somebody think of this before? It’s simple and it works… well if you want to put your arm through loops that stick out at least 1″ from your body.