Will requiring Chicago boaters to wear lifejackets prevent drownings — or make things worse?

In response to the drowning of a 27-year-old hairstylist on Lake Michigan last month, Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) wants to require anyone boarding a boat in Chicago to wear a life jacket.

Some hope Coleman's proposed ordinance in the Chicago City Council will cut down on drownings, but others say it might actually make things worse.

Zahrie Walls was on a boat June 21 in the Playpen area near Navy Pier when she fell into the lake. She wasn't wearing a life jacket.

“By making people wear life jackets all the time, you may be creating more of a safety hazard in some cases,” said Mike McElroy, president of the Chicago Harbor Safety Committee. McElroy also works for tour boat operator Wendella.

“The ordinance does not specify the type of jacket required,” McElroy said, explaining there are five different types of life jackets.

“Where we come from on the commercial passenger vessel side, we use a Type 1, which is the most ideal jacket that keeps your head up if you’re unconscious," McElroy said. "The proposal doesn’t specify what type of jacket would be required, so you can be wearing a type which if you hit your head and fall into the water, you’re still going to drown.”

Coleman did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.

David Salk, a 74-year-old sailing captain who has completed the Chicago to Mackinac, Michigan, yacht race 39 times, agrees with McElroy.

Life jackets "are somewhat dangerous also, especially some of the bulkier orange ones," Salk said. "They increase your chance of falling off because if you walk around the boat and you’re not used to this bulky thing, it can trip you up on a line,” Salk said, adding that people need to use common sense.

But Dave Benjamin, executive director and co-founder of Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, said there is little question life jackets save lives.

“When we look at the Great Lakes drowning statistics, less than 1% of those fatal drownings were wearing a life jacket, so you have a 99% survival rate if you’re wearing a life jacket," Benjamin said.

So far this year, there have been 20 drownings in Lake Michigan, which includes all states bordering the lake and all forms of drowning. In 2024, there were 51, according to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, a nonprofit that tracks drownings in all five Great Lakes.

Over the last 15 years, more than 640 people drowned from all causes in Lake Michigan, the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project said.

If Coleman's ordinance is enacted, boaters not wearing life jackets could face a fine of up to $500. Currently, Illinois law requires that life vests be available for each person aboard a boat, but only those under age 13 are required to wear them.

Coleman's legislation, introduced July 8, is an amendment to an ordinance already on the books that makes an exemption for large, commercial boats inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard. Coleman's proposal eliminates the exemption, which means passengers on large boats like the ones used for architectural tours may be forced to wear life jackets. The ordinance currently on the books only requires there are enough life jackets for every passenger.

The City Council is not expected to take up the proposal until September.

“If passed as is, it would mean everybody — people on dinner boats and water taxis and architecture tour boats, would have to wear life jackets,” said Michael Borgstrom, chief executive of Wendella Tours & Cruises and a founding member and past president of the Chicago Harbor Safety Committee. He said he has emailed Coleman for clarification but has yet to receive a response.

Enforcement might be a challenge as well, considering there are several thousand boats docked on the lakefront.

Though he's generally in favor of the ordinance, Benjamin did concede it might be hard to enforce. “There’s a lot of laws already in place that are pretty hard to enforce,” he said. “Adding another law isn’t going to do anything; it’s just going to be another thing that’s difficult to enforce.”

The Chicago Police Marine Unit has seven patrol/rescue boats. Chicago police spokesperson Thomas Ahern said the department does not comment on a proposed ordinance, but the president of the Fraternal Order of Police, John Catanzara, was critical. In an email, he described the plan as governmental overreach.

“Just another government overreach for adults who should bear personal responsibility for their choices and actions,” Catanzara wrote. “If you can’t swim, then shame on you for not taking precautions. To force boaters who can swim and are responsible to wear life jackets is just another dumb idea of government overreach.”

As for the Chicago Fire Department, which has five boats, spokesman Larry Langford said the department has no power to write tickets.

“We are strictly rescue,” Langford said. “We don’t have legal authority to write tickets, but we can call the police when we see something just like any other citizen.”

Chicago police and the U.S. Coast Guard are authorized to write tickets and make arrests.

Langford added the Fire Department would likely support the proposed ordinance.

“The Fire Department would be in favor of that because we’ve always preached that," Langford said. "We’ve seen many cases, especially with boats that are rented. There are life jackets on board, but people choose not to wear them. There’s drinking, there’s partying, and people end up in the water with bad results. We endorse anything that will have people wearing life jackets while in the vessel.”