Sharp fall in the number of personal watercraft riders without a licence

In 2022, a requirement was introduced for a licence to operate a personal watercraft. The licence is issued by the Swedish Transport Agency. That year, 5.9% of personal watercraft riders broke the rules, according to checks by the Coast Guard. In 2024, the figure for the whole year was as high as 8.9%. But between May and August this year, only three riders out of 700 have broken the rules. This is 0.4%.

– We see that people who own a personal watercraft do know and respect the rules. We also see that the rental business has more or less ended, says Stina Ternhagen, maritime traffic administrator at the Coast Guard.

Very few cases of drunk boating in northern Sweden

Drunk boating is also falling slowly but surely. The Coast Guard carried out 2643 sobriety checks across the country between May and August. These led to 85 crime reports, which is 3.2%. This is a full percentage point lower than just five years ago.

– Here too, we see that acceptance of the rules and knowledge about them have grown in recent years, and that it is perfectly possible to be sober at sea, says Stina Ternhagen.

Northern Sweden stands out in a positive way in the statistics on sobriety at sea. The Coast Guard has reported no cases of drunk boating in Norrbotten. Only one case has been reported in each of Västerbotten and Västernorrland. In total, 363 boat drivers were checked in the three counties.

– During the summer the weather in Norrbotten has mostly been unsettled, which has clearly affected the actual number of days at sea for leisure boats. In our contact with leisure boat drivers, we notice that compliance with the rules is high, which is welcome, comments Per Sundwall, head of the coast guard station in Luleå.

Few fixed penalty fines for speeding
Speeding at sea has also fallen, according to Coast Guard statistics. During the summer months, a total of 96 fixed penalty fines were issued on the 261 occasions when the Coast Guard checked speed. In five cases, the suspect could not show ID, did not want to accept the fixed penalty fine or was driving more than 25 knots too fast. These cases led to a crime report, which is handled by a prosecutor. The number of fixed penalty fines has fallen sharply compared with similar checks in recent years, while the number of crime reports is at the same level as before.

A summary of the checks is in the attached PDF.