Royal Life Saving WA's Lauren Nimmo and Greg Tate on a mountain of old lifejackets

Old4New lifejacket exchange a hit with boaters

Royal Life Saving Society WA partnered with the Department of Transport at the Hillarys Boat Show over the weekend to launch the Old4New Lifejacket Exchange program.

The program aims to encourage boaters to recognise the importance of wearing a lifejacket at all times when out on the water, and to remove old, damaged and obsolete lifejackets from the system.

The pilot program was a raging success, with the initial stock of 250 lifejackets disappearing in no time.  Each day of the boat show we had people queuing for up to two hours, despite some very wet and wild weather, to exchange their lifejackets for new self-inflating, lightweight and slim-line lifejackets.

The comments from those taking part in the exchange were that the old style lifejackets were far too bulky and uncomfortable for them to bother using, and these new ones will most certainly be worn instead of just being stored in their boat!

Unfortunately a lot of people missed out due to the limited stocks, so in the coming weeks we will be working with the Department of Transport to plan future events where more people can take part.

If you'd like to stay in the know about when and where the next Old4New lifejacket exchange will take place head to the link below and fill in the form!