[Mee-n-Mac]

Seeing as this thread had turned in another speed limit discussion I thought I'd try a different approach. For the moment how about everyone on either side of the issue take a breather (you can rest now to hyperventilate later) and consider one possible alternative concept. It seems to me that the safety concern voiced by the pro-SL side is one of getting hit by a boat traveling at high speed. The talk is about reaction times (? though not about sight lines and distances ?) and how the GF boater won't be able to avoid hitting them. What if every concerned boater was able to equip his/her vessel (of any type) with a portable, battery powered device that would warn, with sufficient time, other boaters of their presence. Every "GF boat" would be required to equip themselves with a "detector" that would work in conjunction with the portable warning device. Indeed even non-GF boats could opt to install a "detector". Lets assume for the moment that the reliability of the advance warning is 99.999999 % (ie - more perfect than your brain surgeon). Further more the cost of the portable device would be $10 - $20 and the "detector" somewhere between $100 - $120. Any boat going faster than a SL (mph is TBD) w/o the "detector" is subject to a fine and the "detector" itself is easily detectable by the MP when it's in operation. Of course such devices have practical safety warning uses beyond mere "high" speed collision avoidance, they're useful in avoiding "low" speed collisions where visibility is obscured (fog, rain, sun, glare) or when it's dark and can provide additional safety against inattentive and/or stupid* boaters (when a "detector" is installed). It's not impossible that you could get an insurance break to offset the cost. So forgetting for a moment about how it could be done, assume for this post that it can be done, would this be an alternative that you would consider in place of all encompasing SL or no SL ?

*of course you can't ever defeat really stupendous stupidity but you can try.

**again before everyone says it can't be done because of X, Y and Z imagine just for moment that it can be done. Besides I know it can be done, the only issue is cost and I have a strong suspicion that for this non-demanding implementation the costs mentioned above are in the ballpark.