Speed limit makes it safe for small human powered craft?

[Fat Jack]

Originally Posted by SAMIAM

A powerboat,even at 45mph would probably go right through a sailboat or, at the very least,be so horrific as to cause serious injury or death to the occupants. I can't imagine the result if this boat was truly "speeding" as Mr. Carsen says.

This is a great point. Imagine the death and destruction if this power boat had been going say 90, as 9% of NH's citizen feel is ok? At that speed, the operator's reaction time would have been the same as at 45, but his stopping distance and the distance he would have traveled during that reaction time would have both been doubled, his impact force would have been quadrupled, his kinetic energy (the killer) would have been quadrupled, and the victim would not have had to worry about heading off to Maine for safe sailing. In fact, we would probably still be finding little chunks of him and his boat floating around the lake.

And because the victim here was a slow-moving sailboat, the Glendale and Coast Guard statistics would list this as a "sail boating" accident at "slow speed", and there would be no record of a "speed-related accident" anywhere.

[John A. Birdsall]

disclaimer: My boat can't go 45 mph unless it's on a trailer towed behind some suitable vehicle.

Al stated this, not this raises a question can you tow your boat over 45mph

stupid question.

I been reading these posts posted today, with blame of the speed limit proposal on kayaks, and canoes. I do not find them responsible for this change, nor do I find it the big boats go fast either. It is the fault of every boat/boater that fails to follow the rules and regulations, to take responsibility of their actions. If boats/boaters would follow and abide by the 150' rule Their should not be a problem. However, I think at night we need to have a speed limit, and I am thinking that 25 is really too fast. And my thoughts are when their is a group say in Alton Bay, or the Weirs, or Wolfeboro Harbor watching fireworks and leaving. But again 150' rule is not being inforced is it. I think on the 4th of July in Alton their is over 1000 boats for the fireworks, and I wonder how many get ticketed for failuer to obseve the 150' rule when leaving. I know that they are not doing headway speed.

[Fat Jack]

John,
you also raise an interesting issue;

Looking only at the nightime portion of HB162, it is clear that the Coast Guard is in support of the 25MPH limit, if not slower.

While all of the water skiing sites recommend a speed at or below 25MPH for recreational water skiing, the Coast Guard Auxiliary's "Safety Tips for Water Skiing" publication (http://www.uscgboating.org/safety/metlife/water_ski.htm)
warns that "Any boat traveling fast enough to tow a skier is traveling too fast to navigate safely at night."

Of course, there will be some on this forum who will figure out some angle for reasoning that even this clear warning does not apply to NH lakes, where the water is denser, skiers are faster, or statistics are not kept on boat speeds.

And I wonder why the CG would even bother to warn about night time speed anyway, since according to Director Barrett and some on this forum; "There is no correlation between speed and danger in a marine environment".

[overlook]

Originally Posted by Fat Jack

John,
you also raise an interesting issue;

Looking only at the nightime portion of HB162, it is clear that the Coast Guard is in support of the 25MPH limit, if not slower.

While all of the water skiing sites recommend a speed at or below 25MPH for recreational water skiing, the Coast Guard Auxiliary's "Safety Tips for Water Skiing" publication (http://www.uscgboating.org/safety/metlife/water_ski.htm)
warns that "Any boat traveling fast enough to tow a skier is traveling too fast to navigate safely at night."

Of course, there will be some on this forum who will figure out some angle for reasoning that even this clear warning does not apply to NH lakes, where the water is denser, skiers are faster, or statistics are not kept on boat speeds.

And I wonder why the CG would even bother to warn about night time speed anyway, since according to Director Barrett and some on this forum; "There is no correlation between speed and danger in a marine environment".

This is in reference to towing waterskiers at night. Find were they say boating at night? That is a pathetic spin... A waterskier could hit objects such as markers ect.

Take off your blinders.

[Woodsy]

Fat Jack...

Actually you are wrong in your assumptions. What your missing in ALL of your equations that relate to speed and reaction time is the one thing that is absolutely critical... distance! One of the primary things that relate to all accidents is visibility. At what distance was the other boat visible? On the water, visibility is usually measured in MILES! On the roadways, it is measured in feet. If all current laws are being obeyed (150' away from shore etc), there are very few places on the Lake where a boat on plane (regardless of speed) wouldn't have ample time to correct thier course or stop to avoid a collision. All drivers are responsible for the safe operation of thier boat. So if a Capt. Bonehead was bearing down on you regardless of speed, it is your obligation to do everything possible to avoid a collision, regardless of the other boats course and speed.

The proof of this is in the statistics... no collisions on Lake Winnipesaukee at speeds greater than 45 MPH. NONE, NADA, EMPTY SET, ZERO! The one boat/boat collision we did have last year involved a small SeaRay and a STATIONARY pontoon boat!

Visibility is the key to operating any vehicle safely. Night operation is a completely different scenario, as your visibility is reduced, reasonable & prudent dictates that your speed should also be reduced.

Woodsy