Can you have a beer on a boat? Here’s what Missouri law says about boating & drinking
It’s lake season in Missouri, and the boats are out and about across the state.
While you might be inclined to crack open a cold one while at the helm and blast Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson since it’s five o’clock somewhere, is it legal in Missouri? Here’s what the law says.
Can I drink and boat in Missouri?
You will need to put down that hurricane, even if it drives you insane.
Missouri law “prohibits operating a vessel while intoxicated due to alcohol or any combination of alcohol, controlled substances, or drugs.” It’s a class B misdemeanor and is punishable by up to six months in jail and a maximum of $1,000 in fines.
If your blood alcohol level is .08 or more or if you’ve used drugs, you’re considered to be under the influence, and you aren’t legally allowed to drive. It’s the same limit as if you were driving a car.
It’s illegal for someone under 21 to drink, but if they have, they can’t drive the boat if their blood alcohol level is .02 or more.
By driving a boat on Missouri waters, the state highway patrol says, you have consented to be tested for alcohol or drugs if a law enforcement official asks.
If you are convicted of boating while intoxicated, you will be required to attend a certified boater safety course before being allowed to operate a boat again in Missouri.
Passengers can drink while on a boat, as long as they don’t drive it.
Do you need a license to drive a boat?
You don’t need a boating license to drive a boat in Missouri, but the state highway patrol says anyone born after Jan. 1, 1984, must pass a Missouri Boater Education class or test before operating any motorized vehicle on the state’s lakes.
There’s no age limit on who can take Missouri’s boater education courses, so they’re open to anyone, but they must be able to follow and understand the course material.
Once you pass the class, you can receive a boater identification card. You will have to pay a $15 fee for the card.
The driver of a boat must be 14 years of age unless there’s an adult on board, according to Missouri law. A child 14 or younger operating a boat on a Missouri lake with an adult needs a boater identification card.
Why can’t you drink and drive a boat?
Drinking and driving a boat is so dangerous because it disrupts your balance and ability to focus, among other things.
When a boater or passenger drinks, the following happens, according to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Boating Safety Division:
Cognitive abilities and judgment deteriorate. This makes it tougher to process information, assess situations and make good decisions.
Physical performance deteriorates. People have problems balancing and take longer to react
Your peripheral vision, depth perception and night vision worsen. It becomes harder to focus and distinguish colors.
Inner ear disturbances can make it impossible for a person who falls into the water to tell up from down.
Alcohol creates a sensation of warmth — that could prevent someone in cold water from getting out before hypothermia sets in.
A driver with a blood alcohol concentration above .10 is 10 times as likely to die in a boating accident than a driver who’s sober, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Alcohol is a contributing factor in around 27% of all fatal boating crashes and 30% of all boating crashes in Missouri, according to the state’s highway patrol. In one example from last year, boat driver in a crash that injured eight in July at the Lake of the Ozarks was charged with boating while intoxicated.
“Alcohol is even more hazardous on the water than on land. The marine environment has motion, vibration, engine noise, sun, wind and spray accelerates a drinker’s impairment,” the U.S. Coast Guard’s Boating Safety Division said in a blog post. “These stressors cause fatigue that makes a boat operator’s coordination, judgment and reaction time decline even faster when using alcohol.”
