Quote:
Originally Posted by Resident 2B
I believe that rules are rules and they need to be followed. I do not care what type of boat it is or what the people in the boat are trying to do, if there is a rule like the 150 foot rule, all must comply. My personal opinion is the 150' rule is the most important rule we have regarding boating safety. R2B
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Hope I don’t get flamed for this but here goes,,,
Sorry I believe rules always come second to human instinct for safety, rules are generic and do not fit every situation. Yes the goal should be to follow the rule, but we are not robots, we can think and adapt to unexpected situations and I for one do not plan to trade in that ability for absolute rule following programming any time soon.
Many years back I got a ticket from the NH MP for having a passenger hanging their ankle over the side at cruising speed on my parents bowrider. You would be hard pressed to convince me that rule contributed to the safety of other boaters and/or my passenger. I would argue that any bowrider with small/very young children riding by themselves up front is a far more dangerous situation (one of the MOST common sights on Winnipesaukee!). That said I do not in any way advocate that we add yet another rule to “protect” other boaters or passengers by restricting the age/weight of children and where they can ride, that is for the boat operator and/or the parents to decide, NOT the GOVERNMENT or some group of organized “we know better than you do” whats good for your own safety group.
Also sorry your distaste for a particular rule is causing you to leave Winnipesaukee, but I appreciate you position. Its an unfortunate trend that the encroachment of rules and regulations that some are using to their benefit/preference are having negative impacts on so many others. But this is exactly to my point about the 150’ buffer rule, better to have fewer generic “safe operation” rules than many specific and often unbeneficial rules.
The saying “numbers are stubborn things” seems appropriate here, show me clear numbers about how these rules have significantly improved safety and I’ll sign up, otherwise I say NO to more new rules. If anything we should be constantly looking at old rules and working to strip out the ones that are not enforced/enforceable or are not effective.