You posted "Almost three-fourths of all fatal boating accident victims drowned, and of those,(nl)eighty-four (84) percent were not reported as wearing a life jacket." that means that 16 people out of a 100 that were wearing PFD did not make it.
That is almost 1 in 5 that do not make it, What kind of safety device is this that with this kind of record? For kids and non swimmers those are good odds, but for a swimmer? Do not even talk about the being UN-conscienceless, most PFD that we have with any wave action will not keep the face out of water.

I feel too many people have a miss guided belief that if you are wearing a PFD you are safe/risk free and will be coming home at the end of the day.

I think checking weather before going out should be above PFD
I think about lifeline that are in good shape. How about all systems in good shape.
I think about having a plan to work around those sys if they break.
I think about having charts on board and knowing how to use them.
I think about having jack lines, lets have a systems that keep us out of the water.
I think about keeping the boat off hard things.
And the list gos on.

It take a lot of things to be safe on the water and a PFD only comes into play when you do not take care of them all.

These are all things that I can do to stay out of the water and not rely on other people to save my but. unlike PFD VHF cell phone SSR EPIRB