speed limits

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by madrasahs

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1)Is 150-feet a sufficient distance today? At today's unconscionable speeds, 150 feet takes less than 2 seconds to "close" on a moving obstacle (my boat).

2) Speed limit? Could the MPs possibly enforce such a speed limit?

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You raise 2 good points, let me take the easiest first. Certainly there are boats which can outdistance the MP's boats. This is also true on land wrt our cars and most of the cruisers the various PDs operate. And there are time and places when outrunning the law will be successful. Yet those facts don't stop the posting of SL's on the roads. I do believe that the majority of the time the MP will be successful in capturing the offender because it's not just an isolated MP boat but rather a network of MP boats (the old saying of "You can't outrun a Motorola" applies). A person who frequently offends is almost surely to be caught at some point, at least if he's docked on the lake. Now your question of "The cost of doing business" comes to the forefront (OK, 3 points). Certainly there are well heeled Ferrari and Porsche owners who think the same way. Yet the law allows for repeated offenders to be curbed via revocation of their liscence. A similar thing could (may already, perhaps Skip knows) happen with the boat owners registration. I would add that it's much easier to drive w/o a liscence than w/o a plate (or in this case, registration sticker). Nighttime enforcement, as you point out, may be more problematical but then again the MPs have radar to track non-stopping boats so perhaps strategies could be found to mitigate the problem. Whether the resources needed to effectively enforce a SL would be allocated is good question.

As to separation distance ... I don't disagree. Just as your following distance in a car should increase with increasing speed, so should your separation distance in a boat. What it should be is a bit harder to answer. Let me bring up one point for consideration. We are all (probably daily) exposed to a situation wherein the closing velocity meets or exceeds the 100mph mentioned above. If you drive a car down Rt11 along the lake you'll encounter cars running in the other direction with only yellow lines and much less than 150' separation. This usually works (though not always as an earlier post here on this forum showed) because most people act in a predictable fashion and follow the rule (keep to your own lane). Now boats aren't cars but similar thinking applies. Congestion, as well as speed, increases the desire for predictability. I've often been passed (overtaken & in opposing direction) by boats that violated my 150ft bubble. It doesn't always bother me because I've been able to assess the other guys course and determine that, barring some form of stupidity, no collision would occur. If separation distance is too be maintained in order to reduce the likelihood of collisions then I agree that the distance should be increasing with increasing speed but also would add that all boaters have a part to play in this. Just as you wouldn't turn across the yellow lines in front of an oncoming car, you have to operate you boat in a predictable fashion when in the presence of other boaters (and I don't mean Boston type predictability ).