Quote:
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Originally Posted by Airwaves
"...You might also note that WEATHER is blamed for nearly as many accidents as excessive speed....so, no boating in bad weather!!!!"  |
Most accidents occur on bright, sunny days with calm water conditions.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Airwaves
"...So, to recap. Boating accidents since 1999 have DECREASED by 68%. BOATER EDUCATION IS WORKING! So let it work!!!"
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Check those numbers again.
1) Why did accidents drop by nearly half in 1996—then double?
2) Why were accidents so low in 2004?
3) Why were fatalities at a
record low in 2004?
4) Why are other states with mandatory Boater Education seeing
higher accident rates?
For New Hampshire in 1996 and 2004, the answer is...unprecedented rainfall in 1996, and a very soggy 2004 season! Nobody is going to drive up to Winnipesaukee and put their boat in the water if the forecast is for rain, rain, and more rain.
Boating accidents in nearby Connecticut and New Jersey have
spiked.
Both states have required Boater Education much longer than New Hampshire. Their "education" programs are keeping accidents down, all right—
but only when there's bad weather!!!
New Jersey went for a
NEW!!!—AND—
IMPROVED!!! BOATER EDUCATION course this year when their accident rate went from 85 to 124.
It couldn't be their unlimited boating speeds, of course.
(Last year's Barnegat Bay speed limit initiative in New Jersey got scuttled with help from the $peedboat industry lobbyist$).
The peaks and valleys associated with New Hampshire accident numbers are "statistically insignificant"; i.e., as a small state, we have too few numbers to determine a trend attributable to the educated boater. There is a closer correlation to
clouds than to education!
The only trend your numbers support are the very same numbers that are decreasing across the country
anyway.