Collision avoidance at seaOne of th

Collision avoidance at sea
One of the most common causes of accidents at sea is collisions. Measures to
prevent these occurring were included in an Annex to the 1960 Safety of Life at
Sea Convention, but in 1972 IMO adopted the Convention on the International
Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972. Included in this convention
were regulations to introduce traffic separation schemes in congested parts of the
world. By 31 December 1996 the convention, which was amended in 1981, had
been ratified by 128 states. These ‘rules of the road’ have substantially reduced the
number of collisions between ships17.