Cruise Ship Accidents Prompt Legislative Accidents

 

This blanket legislation ensures the security of passengers aboard cruise ships from certain accidents and physical attacks. The increasing popularity of cruise vacations with American travelers however, has resulted in an increase of accidental and criminal incidents in recent years.

 

With a total of nearly 10 million passengers on 111 North American cruise ships as of 2006 came more thefts, injuries and sexual assaults. Consumers, who include dissatisfied or injured travelers and the families of victims of fatal accidents, felt the cruise lines didn’t respond to their concerns. As a result, increasing maritime safety specifically for cruise ship passengers has become the focus of federal lawmakers.

 

 

Congresswoman Doris Matsui and Senator John Kerry are cosponsors of the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009 (HR.1485 and S.588), designed to increase security and accountability on several levels. More specific and further reaching than SOLAS and the 1984 act, if passed, the law would work to prevent at sea accidents and crime, and facilitate rescue efforts. The programs, however, could take time, and their effectiveness cannot be predicted.

 

 

Simple carelessness causes many slip and fall accidents in which passengers end up breaking bones or falling overboard. Poor maintenance of emergency items, such as lights, or fire exit blockage by equipment or furniture could cause a fall or trap passengers in a fire. The Cruise Safety Act would address these types of issues by requiring higher guardrails, adherence to a standard fire safety code, and the use of special detectors for overboard falls.

 

The latter technology may alleviate tragic deaths such as the disappearance of a couple from a cruise ship in Puerto Rico in 2005 or the loss of a woman on a cruise to Alaska in 2004. Both of the surviving families criticized how the cruise lines handled the overboard incidents. The 2009 act would beef up criminal reporting requirements as well.

 

The shocking increase in personal injury due to assaults may be what prompted the remaining cruise ship security measures. With rape by far the most widely reported cruise ship crime in vessels out of Miami, personal security needs more stringent protections than the 1984 act provided.

 

A maritime or persosal injury attorney can help you understand your rights and determine liability after a cruise ship accident. Most states have a statute of limitations that may prohibit you from filing a lawsuit if too much time has passed.