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Last updated Aug. 3, 2010
Jump to caveats, below

CAVEATS
Why don’t these data match Wisconsin DNR reports? (A devil’s-in-the-details disclaimer.)
We built our reporting and database around the best available information on boating accidents: the U.S. Coast Guard and its Boating Accident Reporting Database, or BARD. But we’ve found a few discrepancies between BARD and DNR’s boating injury reports online. DNR’s Wayne Ringquist acknowledged the differences and recommended we stick with BARD. And he gave three reasons the data might differ:

• Entries are hand-coded by state officials, so human error is a risk.
• Until now, DNR hasn’t had a protocol to update both databases when new information comes to light on a case after a record’s been created. But after we pointed out the differences, DNR decided to add such a protocol: “This is good for us— now we’ll make sure that if one set gets updated the other needs to as well,” Ringquist said.
• “Alcohol involvement” means different things to the Coast Guard and the DNR. To DNR, it means a victim had been drinking. To the Coast Guard, whose data we’re using, it means anyone involved in the incident was drinking — for example, when the boat driver was drinking but a sober passenger was injured.

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