Quote:
Originally Posted by bbarrell
..it's the fact that our freedoms are being stripped away AND they are taking money to spend on this program (which will yield no safety results) away from other more important programs like education, environment, the huge spending deficit NH is in right now, etc....these useless laws on the books make it so much worse.
How about doing something that will either raise money or actually make the lake safer? We are focusing on the wrong stuff here and that's the main reason I don't support it. EVERYONE is affected regardless of whether you drive a speed boat or not.
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bbarrell,
You have completely and accurately summed up my feelings on this issue!
Freedom is very important to our family. Restricting individual freedom is a dangerous thing to do and should only be done when it benefits the general public. Otherwise, it becomes a self-interest or self-serving endeavor, and that is what I believe this speed limit proposal really is.
I do not have a fast boat. We have a 23' bowrider and we have two kayaks. We have lake front property and the big tax bill that comes with it. I am against the speed limit because I believe we get a more dangerous boating environment with the speed limit than we have today.
Enforcing the speed limit in a way that complaints will stand up in court will cost a lot of money and it will take MP Officers away from effectively monitoring the existing rules, most importantly the 150' rule. The 150' rule really makes sense and if it was completely followed by all boaters and enforced by the MP, we get a great boating environment for everyone.
All the unsafe conditions I have seen on the lake involved boaters that ignored the 150' rule. These boaters were never GFBL boaters, but where mostly rental boaters or boaters in smaller, often out-of-state, boats. We need to effectively address these boaters and make sure they know the rules we have in NH. That is what will work.
Slowing down a GFBL boat in the middle of the broads is not going to make the lake any safer and it will take MP Officers away from activities that result in making the lake safe, specifically enforcing the existing 150' rule.
R2B