MSHP and Ameren team up for boater safety

Ameren Missouri and the Missouri State Highway Patrol are teaming up for boater safety on the Fourth of July, according to a news release.

The MSHP Water Patrol division will be handing out free T-shirts to “children wearing a life jacket while boating.” According to the release, troopers are doing this to remind people about being safe.

Children under 7 in Missouri are required to wear life jackets while boating, the release said.

According to MSHP Trooper Scott White, troopers have worked 27 boating death cases across Missouri since January 2019. Two of them happened at the Lake of the Ozarks.

“The common denominator that so many of those cases have is that somebody is not wearing a life jacket,” White said.

The one of the most common problems is children wearing life jackets that do not fit properly.

White said all law enforcement officers at the Lake of the Ozarks will be upping their hours during the holiday weekend.