Free life jacket exchanges coming to Parker this weekend
Parker boaters could swap worn-out life jackets for new ones at the sheriff’s boating safety building, a free safety push before Colorado River traffic picked up.
Parker-area boaters had a no-cost chance to upgrade safety gear at the La Paz County Sheriff’s Boating Safety Building, where Arizona Game and Fish and partner agencies offered free life jacket exchanges at 8484 Riverside Drive. The Parker stop was scheduled for Saturday, May 16, and the event listings posted different end times, with some showing noon and others 1 p.m., but the message was the same: bring in an old, worn out, less-effective or poorly fitting vest and leave with a better one while supplies lasted.
Arizona Game and Fish said the exchanges were part of National Safe Boating Week, which ran May 16 through May 22, and of a broader summer push meant to get more people properly equipped before the busiest boating weeks hit the Colorado River. The department said Type I and Type II life jackets would not be accepted at the exchanges, and that the trade-in was designed for jackets that no longer fit well or no longer offered the protection boaters needed.
The timing mattered in La Paz County, where Parker and the river corridor draw families, anglers and weekend boaters as temperatures rise. Arizona Game and Fish watercraft law enforcement coordinator Danny Rodriguez said a life jacket can save a life only if it is worn before an emergency happens. That warning tracks with the U.S. Coast Guard’s 2024 data, which found that 76% of fatal boating accident victims drowned when cause of death was known, and that 87% of drowning victims with reported life-jacket usage were not wearing one.
State rules already make some of that protection mandatory. Arizona law requires children age 12 and under to wear life jackets while a boat is underway, and Arizona Game and Fish says there must be one U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket on board for every passenger. The department also urges boaters to take boating safety classes and to wear life jackets every time they are on the water, a reminder that enforcement and education are working together as the season ramps up.
Parker was one stop in a larger statewide schedule that included Bullhead City on May 15, Lake Havasu City, Parker, Fishers Landing and Lake Pleasant on May 16, Patagonia Lake on May 23 and Bullhead City again on June 12. For families heading to the river, the local exchange put a basic piece of safety gear within easy reach just as Memorial Day boating traffic approached.
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