Boater's Education Certificates

[Rattlesnake Guy]

Originally Posted by Bear Islander

And what some people don't want you to know is that if you get an online Internet certificate in another state, it is good in New Hampshire.

Now why would you want people to take the short cut to knowing the rules in New Hampshire? How many post have you done that speak to the safety issue?

[Skipper of the Sea Que]

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Guy

Now why would you want people to take the short cut to knowing the rules in New Hampshire? How many post have you done that speak to the safety issue?

Bear Islander is pointing out an unforeseen consequence of an effort to improve boating safety in New Hampshire. In addition to answering the thread question IMO Bear Islander is pointing out a problem area. Instead of trying to hide the problem it is brought to your attention. He's not playing ostrich.

Originally Posted by Bear Islander

I do not believe allowing internet certificates is a good idea, and I am sure that many will abuse the situation. However the question was how can you obtain a certificate. An out of state certificate is a legal option, to pretend that option does not exist, because we do not like it, is a lie. I value safety a great deal, but truth is an even more valuable commodity.

I agree with Bear Islander on this issue. It has been discussed in other threads. Bear Islander is not advocating this method of earning a boater education certificate, is he?

It makes no sense to some of us that NH turned off the NH Internet Boater Ed testing while still accepting Boater Ed certificates from states that that allow on-line testing (and are NASBLA approved). That just encourages people to take a test that does not address anything that is NH specific - like the 150' rule.

Originally Posted by Bear Islander

I have emailed state lawmakers with my belief that the education requirement should be more strict. That is an appropriate action. Providing false information is not.

I think this Boater Education Certificate loop-hole allows for more Capt Boneheads on the lake and there seems to be no big push to fix it. BI is doing his part by expressing his opinion to the lawmakers. If there were proposed legislation to change the loop-hole in the Boater Ed on-line testing situation I'll bet you would find BI promoting and posting his feelings on that subject.

The real question we should be asking is, How can this be fixed.

[Bear Islander]

Closing this loophole is a lot harder than it may seem. A few legislators responded indicating that reciprocity was the problem.

If we expect NH certificates to be valid in other states, then doesn't NH have to accept other states certificates.

However the real problem is that certificates from other states do not indicate if the test was proctored or not. How is a NH MP officer to know if the certificate they are being handed meets the NH standard or not.

This is a national problem that the NH legislature can not fix on it's own. The only other option is to not accept ANY out of state certificates. An extreme solution that could be unworkable or unfair.

New Hampshire has taken a stand for tough education standards, hopefully other states will follow. Pretending the loophole doesn't exist is not the answer. Disseminating deliberately incomplete information is a lie.

What if a hypothetical group told lies in order to pass legislation they think will make the lake safer? Is that OK? Obviously not.

[KonaChick]

Originally Posted by Bear Islander

Closing this loophole is a lot harder than it may seem. A few legislators responded indicating that reciprocity was the problem.

If we expect NH certificates to be valid in other states, then doesn't NH have to accept other states certificates.

However the real problem is that certificates from other states do not indicate if the test was proctored or not. How is a NH MP officer to know if the certificate they are being handed meets the NH standard or not.

This is a national problem that the NH legislature can not fix on it's own. The only other option is to not accept ANY out of state certificates. An extreme solution that could be unworkable or unfair.

New Hampshire has taken a stand for tough education standards, hopefully other states will follow. Pretending the loophole doesn't exist is not the answer. Disseminating deliberately incomplete information is a lie.

What if a hypothetical group told lies in order to pass legislation they think will make the lake safer? Is that OK? Obviously not.

Perhaps some hard decisions have to be made to deal with the problem then. An extreme solution that is unfair might be the only option we have to get this under control. Take the speed limit bill for example. If the bill passes NH residents who are convicted of speeding on the lake will have this infraction apply to their NH licenses. In my opinion extremely unfair but that's what was written into the bill and if it passes that's what I'll have to live with. Sometimes tough times call for tough measures.

[Bear Islander]

Good News

It seems that Massachusetts no longer gives out certificates for online courses. Perhaps more states will follow.

Interestingly the Mass Boater Ed site displays this warning

Online courses are for informational purposes only. Any certificates received via online courses with the exception of a certificate issued by the New Hampshire Department of Public Safety will not be honored by the Massachusetts Environmental Police.

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dle/courselist.htm

[Seeker]

I believe you're going to find that the majority of non-procrastinators be they residents or non-residents who do most of their boating here have taken the NH on-line course and obtained that certificate.
I thought the NH on-line course (w/o a proctored exam) was only good in NH. Is this wrong? I took it just to see how I'd do but didn't request the certificate as I had one from the USPS.

[Joe Kerr]

Originally Posted by Bear Islander

Good News

It seems that Massachusetts no longer gives out certificates for online courses. Perhaps more states will follow.

Interestingly the Mass Boater Ed site displays this warning

Online courses are for informational purposes only. Any certificates received via online courses with the exception of a certificate issued by the New Hampshire Department of Public Safety will not be honored by the Massachusetts Environmental Police.

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dle/courselist.htm

Bear Islander, really now, do you even need a boating certificate in Mass? We grown-ups down here don't need any certificates.