The U.S. Coast Guard is reconsidering boat capacity guidelines in light of America's continued obesity levels. The current level of 140 pounds, or 160 if only adults are on board, haven't been changed since 1960.
"We are looking into regulatory change on this," said Coast Guard spokesperson Dan Tremper. Tremper noted that changes would affect more than 20,000 different types of boats, including tiny personal crafts.
The Federal Aviation Administration dealt with this in August, ordering airlines to assume that adult passengers weigh 14 pounds more on average than they did a decade ago.
True, 45 years is a long time between adjustments. Of course, if you look at women then, they were perhaps heavier (and more life-like) than the stick models of today. But the overall population definitely weighs more per person, regardless of gender.
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