Who says so?? For decades, everyone
Posted by: g2d
on Feb-11-13 3:17 PM (EST)
has been calling all PFDs "life jackets". Then, recently, UK government agencies, and *parts* of the USCG, decided that they wanted to call only class 1 "life jackets."
Here's a truth for you. If you are a competent kayaker running class 3-5 whitewater, you are more likely to flip and swim wearing your class 1 "life jacket", and more likely to fail to reach shore with equipment in hand, than if you are wearing a carefully selected class 3 life jacket, one designed to keep whitewater paddlers alive, NOT CRUISE SHIP PASSENGERS.
And if you want the maximum number of sailboaters, powerboaters, tubers, kayakers, canoeists, etc., wear PFDs, call them life jackets. If you call them "personal flotation devices" or "buoyancy aids", people will miss the point. They will not understand that these devices are ALL to save lives, not just to "float" you.
Describe two instances where the head and neck support of a class 1 has saved someone's life. Be specific.