Brandon Twp.-It’s a late summer afternoon and two deputies from the Oakland County Marine Division launch their 18-foot patrol boat into Bald Eagle Lake.
Only a handful of boaters are out on the placid lake. The pair cruise the perimeter of the lake before pulling up next to a couple in a pontoon boat.
The deputies? routine stop includes a series of questions and checks on the boat’all vital to safety on more than 450 lakes in Oakland County, said Sgt. Dan Toth Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Marine Division.
Toth heads up a team of deputies who spend the summer months rotating marine patrols on Oakland County lakes.
‘Consider, too, that we have more than 93,000 registered boats in the Oakland county, plus we have 30 percent of our boaters on the area lakes come from other counties.?
‘Life preservers’the first issue,? said Toth. ‘The biggest factor in boating incidents. A lack of flotation devices’the cause in 85 to 90 percent of boating death is drowning. And too many times the lifejackets are within reach as they head into the water. It’s like seatbelts, it happens so quick, boaters just don’t have time to get their vest on’often, too, the victim was a good swimmer.?
Toth said two drowning-related deaths were reported in Oakland County since the first of the year. On July 7, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Dive Team & Marine Division recovered the body of a 38-year-old, Novi male who was reported missing in Walled Lake. In a March a boy fell through the ice on an Oakland County Lake.
‘On a busy boating weekend, we hold our breath and keep the patrols out there,? said Toth.