VHF radios cost maybe $200 per boat to install. I personally believe every wind or machine-powered vessel should be required to carry one. Handhelds are as low as $40. There really is no excuse not to have one.
Let's look at it from another angle. I'm in my old small sailboat in a remote area of the lake (some cove in Moultonboro Bay let's say) and my gooseneck breaks. A tow into my house 1/2 mile away would be nice. The only boat I see is a MP boat a mile away. So I figure, "Wow, this is my lucky day," and try to hail them on 16. They don't answer and drive off.
How about this: there is a boat full of reckless drunks, getting too close to other boats on plane, throwing garbage overboard, etc. I go to call MP to report the incident but remember that they don't have VHF radios. So I get the bow numbers and call MP on shore, but not before the boat waked a kayak enough to swamp it.
These, of course, are hypothetical.
Nobody has justified the lack of radios yet. Besides a life jacket, VHF radios are the number one safety device on a boat.