Navigation Lights and Nighttime Collisions

Why Navigation Lights Matter at Night

Operating a boat after dark presents challenges that simply do not exist during daylight. Shore lights, darkness, weather, and reflections on the water can make it difficult to judge another vessel’s size, speed, distance, and direction. Navigation lights help solve that problem.

The color and position of a vessel’s lights give other boaters important information about where it is and how it is moving. The U.S. Coast Guard’s Navigation Rules (USCG) establish specific lighting requirements for power-driven vessels, sailboats, fishing vessels, towing vessels, anchored boats, and vessels with limited maneuverability.

When those lights are missing or displayed incorrectly, another operator may not realize a vessel is nearby until there is little time to react.

Understanding the Basic Navigation Lights

The exact lights required depend on the vessel’s size, type, and activity. However, some of the most familiar lights include:

• Red sidelight: displayed on the bow, on the port  side
• Green sidelight: displayed on the bow, on the starboard side
• White sternlight: visible from behind the vessel
• White masthead light: used by certain power-driven vessels and visible across a forward arc

These lights are positioned so another boater can often tell which side of a vessel they are seeing. For example, seeing a vessel’s red sidelight may indicate a different crossing situation than seeing its green sidelight.

Different combinations can also signal that a vessel is towing, fishing, anchored, unable to maneuver normally, or engaged in another activity.

Navigation Lights Are Required After Sunset

Under the federal Navigation Rules, required vessel lights generally must be displayed from sunset to sunrise. They must also be displayed during restricted visibility, such as fog or heavy rain, when the vessel carries the prescribed lights.

The rules also establish minimum distances from which certain lights must be visible. Those distances vary depending on the vessel’s size and the type of light.

Simply having lights installed therefore may not be enough. Lights that are burned out, too dim, blocked by equipment, improperly positioned, or otherwise difficult to see may create a serious hazard.

Common Navigation Light Problems

A navigation light violation does not always involve a boat traveling in complete darkness. Problems may be less obvious. Potential issues include:

• Burned-out navigation lights
• Weak batteries or electrical failures
• Lights blocked by passengers or equipment
• Incorrectly positioned lights
• Using the wrong light configuration
• Failing to display required anchor lights
• Turning lights on too late
• Poorly maintained fixtures
• Decorative lights that interfere with required navigation lights
• Using lights not intended for use as navigation lights

The Coast Guard cautions that decorative, flashing, or high-intensity lights can create confusion if they obscure required navigation lights or make it harder for another operator to understand a vessel’s direction or operating status.

Nighttime Collisions Can Involve More Than Lighting

A missing navigation light can contribute to a collision, but nighttime accidents often involve several factors. Other potential causes include:

• Failure to maintain a proper lookout
• Excessive speed
• Operator distraction
• Boating under the influence
• Poor visibility
• Failure to follow crossing or passing rules
• Misjudging another vessel’s direction
• Inexperienced operators
• Failure to use radar or other available equipment appropriately

An operator should not rely solely on seeing another vessel’s lights. The Navigation Rules also require a proper lookout and a safe speed appropriate for the surrounding conditions.

When visibility is poor, operators may need to slow down and exercise additional caution.

Navigation Light Violations and Liability

After a nighttime collision, investigators may look closely at whether each vessel displayed the lights required for its size and activity.

Evidence that a vessel was operating without required lights may help establish how the collision occurred. However, a lighting violation does not necessarily mean that one vessel is automatically responsible for everything that happened.

Another operator may also have been speeding, distracted, impaired, or failing to maintain a lookout. More than one party can contribute to the same accident.

Depending on the circumstances, potentially responsible parties may include the vessel operator, vessel owner, charter company, rental business, employer, maintenance provider, or another boater.

Evidence After a Nighttime Collision

Because navigation lights or electrical components may be repaired soon after an accident, preserving evidence can be particularly important. Helpful evidence may include:

• Photographs and videos of the vessels
• The navigation lights, bulbs, switches, and wiring
• Witness statements
• GPS and navigation data
• Radar information
• Surveillance or onboard camera footage
• Vessel maintenance records
• Coast Guard or law enforcement reports
• Weather and visibility information
• Medical records

Investigators may also examine where the vessels were positioned immediately before impact and which lights witnesses could see.

Morgan & Morgan Is Here to Help

Nighttime boating collisions can result in traumatic brain injuries, broken bones, spinal cord injuries, drowning, and other serious harm. When visibility is limited, something as basic as a missing or obscured navigation light can become an important part of determining what went wrong.

Morgan & Morgan’s maritime accident attorneys can investigate the collision, examine navigation and vessel records, preserve important evidence, identify potentially responsible parties, and fight for the compensation you may deserve.

Contact Morgan & Morgan for a free, no-obligation case evaluation. With the Fee Is Free™, you pay nothing unless we win your case.