2008 Coast Guard Statistics

[chmeeee]

I read through this post in it's entirety yesterday and again today, and no matter what I do, it makes ZERO sense to me.

Originally Posted by Acres per Second

2) Indisputably, NHMP Lt. Dunleavey stated that there is a 4-in-5 chance that alcohol will be on board a "recreational" boat. (And drinking that alcohol on board is legal!)

Recreational drugs (which are not exactly unseen at sand bars) are unaccounted for.

You don't seem to understand this statistic. 80% of boats with alcohol does not mean 80% of drivers are drunk or have even consumed a drop. My boat probably has alcohol on board 90% of the time, but I've never (and will never) been guilty of BUI.

So now we are also supposed to assume that people are high on drugs if not explicitly proved otherwise? What does any of this have to do with speed?

Originally Posted by Acres per Second

6) Repeatedly reciting Interstate analogies is tiresome: truck and car traffic travel parallel to one another. Tracking boats zig-zagging across our waters would show that the tracks across an automobile "destruction derby" is a far better analogy. (Fortunately for boaters, there are many-more "misses" than "hits".)

Yet the cars are driving 4-6 feet from each other, 10-30 feet from trees, rocks, and other potentially fatal hazards. Boats should not be driving within less than 150 feet of anything at any kind of speed.

Originally Posted by Acres per Second

1) Combining the two "highest-speed" categories results in 245 fatalities. (Remarkable in itself).

By what math? I can't find any two numbers in the fatality column that add up to 245. The two highest speed categories add up to 66.

Originally Posted by Acres per Second

4)And finally:

Paraphrasing President Obama, we Supporters have only "skin in this game". However, this Supporter observes that at least one Opponent has a multi-million dollar financial stake "in this game".

Where is the "I recuse myself from this discussion" button?

What do we forum members think about the incentive for postings where genuine "skin" is not involved—but dollars are?

(Anybody?)

On on Earth are you talking about?

[VtSteve]

Still working on the math?

Here's part of your Epic post.

"2) Lake Winnipesaukee has dodged the multi-fatality collisions at other locales by one great law that has been protecting us for 30+ years; sadly, we see daily that our "Unsafe Passage" rule is receiving inadequate compliance, uneven enforcement, and even the vaunted "Education" element has failed our previously-enjoyable Lake Winnipesaukee boating experiences.

HB-847 resulted.

3) In the past, no tickets could be written for speeds over headway speed—now they can! Also now, the night-hidden scourge of BWI can be assaulted stealthily using radar.

That "nothing perceptible will change" is wrong. I predict that the night speed limit will be the most productive part of the new law in keeping problem boaters away—night and day.

Although the Coast Guard will take three years to produce the statistics, we should expect HB-847 to make much improvement in finding BWI "drivers".

(We got "drivers", now? What happened to "helmsmen"?)

4) By choosing which laws to break, one boating segment has brought HB-847 down upon themselves: HB-847 isn't the fault of "everybody" or "crowds".

Too often, it is easier to "split the difference" between lesser boaters rather than to back off the throttles. What pass for quiet mufflers still brings dread to boaters at anchor, fishermen, lakeside residents no longer secure in their houses, and those attending to a skier or tuber. You'll see them glance up—and it's not an admiring look they'll give in the direction of that menacing approach.

When existing laws are ignored among an increasingly arrogant boating segment, demands for a different legal approach can be expected: enter HB-847."

So we have you alerting us to laws that go without enforcement, and zeroing in on BWI, and HB-847 helping to reduce BWI on the lake. The a bit about people being scared by louder boats.

I agree that the night limit, as low as it is, would make it easy to weed out the cowboys. I wonder when that starts to happen?

You can be a walking, talking, posting contradiction. If I added the above to all previous posts of what's wrong on the water, nobody would be left. Except yourself?

Knowing what you know about the MP budget, exactly how much do you expect from the MP's, night or day?