WASHINGTON -- Failure to wear a life vest, alcohol and inability to swim are factors in most of the 700 accidental boating deaths that occur each year in U.S. waters, according to a Gannett News Service analysis of boating accident data.

With the summer season just ahead, Coast Guard and other maritime safety officials remind boaters they have control over these potentially fatal factors -- if they're willing to invest a little time, discipline and restraint.

Of the 3,507 people who died in boating accidents between 2001 and 2005, about 80 percent weren't wearing life vests, according to the GNS analysis of Coast Guard data.

"We need to get to where people think about life vests the way they now think about seatbelts," said Doug Luper, safety compliance officer with the Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety. "It needs to be automatic."

The life-and-death importance of wearing a life vest is a central theme of the Coast Guard's "You're in Command -- Boat Responsibly" safety campaign this summer.

Floridian Brian Wallschlaeger learned his lesson the hard way.

He was knocked off his boat last July by his 102-pound Labrador, Heidi. Wallschlaeger wasn't wearing a life vest and treaded water and swam for almost 24 hours before reaching shore.

"I realized I was in real trouble pretty quickly," the 35-year-old New Smyrna Beach resident recalled recently. "I'm a bit more cautious when I go out now, but I'll admit I don't wear a life vest every time."

It's an all too common attitude, say boating safety experts, especially among young male boaters who retain a sense of immortality in spite of brushes with disaster.

Fewer than 10 percent of adults surveyed by the Coast Guard said they wear life vests, and that number has remained fairly static for almost a decade.

Other factors weigh heavily as well.

About 59 percent of adults who died in boating accidents couldn't swim, according to the GNS analysis. Almost one in four had been drinking.

"If I could just get them to put down the booze and put on a PFD (personal flotation device), we could save most of the people who die," said Gail Kulp, education director of the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators.

The data show that more than 40 percent of boat operators in fatal accidents had no boating education, even though most states require at least some training.

After decades of work, safety experts say they still struggle with a culture that doesn't take boating as seriously as it should, despite annual campaigns that stress education, abstinence from alcohol and the all-important life vest.

"The public perceives boating as different than driving a car," said Jeff Hoedt, chief of the Coast Guard's Office of Boating Safety. "(They think) it's recreation -- it's free of the laws."

The data GNS examined include reports on nearly 24,000 boating accidents. The data are kept by the Coast Guard but were collected by law enforcement and boating officials on bodies of water throughout the country. Coast Guard officials said their database contains virtually all fatal accidents and about 80 percent of nonfatal accidents requiring hospitalization nationwide, except California.

Alaska, which has a relatively small population and a deep love of the outdoors, led the nation in boating deaths per 100,000 registered boats in 2005 with 41, followed by Hawaii with 33.

Among states with larger boating populations - those with more than 100,000 registered boats -- Maine, Kentucky and Louisiana stood out with death rates above 10 per 100,000 registrations.

Mississippi had a relatively low level of 2.9 boating deaths per 100,000 registered boats.

But boaters died in almost every state and type of water, from coastal surf to lakes, ponds and rivers.

While the number of reported boating accidents dropped from a national total of 6,419 in 2001 to 4,969 in 2005, the number of fatalities per year continues to hover around 700.

Originally published Friday, June 1, 2007