A number of years ago a good friend of my wife’s fiancé was trouble shooting a tiller outboard on a Jon boat in the river. Last thing he remembers was letting go of the tiller handle to grab a screw driver, he was running mid throttle when the motor kicked hard over and threw him from the boat. Evidently he hit his head on the way out knocking him unconscious. He was out cold helpless in the water and he was run over by his own boat suffering severe lacerations to his face leaving him partially disfigured for the rest of his life. Fortunately he was close to the boat ramp and witness were able to pull him from the water and save his life. About a week after this incident I hoped in my jon boat by myself to take my dogs out to a local barrier island for some exercise, the minute I fired up the motor I put the kill switch lanyard on for the first time and made a vow to myself to wear it anytime I am alone in any boat or anytime I am running the boat with others that are not competent enough to operate the boat should I be ejected. An ejection recently occurred up in New England. Check out the footage from the local news, thanks to a competent Sea Tow captain the boat was stopped before the unmanned boat took a victim.
https://www.boston25news.com/news/man-unharmed-after-being-thrown-from-boat-in-duxbury/986560887