Union Leader survey

[SAMIAM]

Front page of the Sunday Union.......READERS SAY 'NO' TO WINNEPESAUKEE SPEED LIMITS.
Looks like that could be the the last gasp for the proponents since most political appointees are not likely to buck public opinion.

[sky_nh]

I wonder what would happen if I put a survey on the Napster web site and asked visitors if people who illegally download music should serve jail time? Given the self-selecting nature of web surveys, would anyone be surprised if an overwhelming majority of Napster "voters" were against legal prosecution?

Speaking as a 25 year marketing vet and researcher, I would say that web surveys have their place and they can be done in a way to remove bias. But the UL survey was not that kind of research -- for a legislator to project the results to the voting population as a whole would be irresponsible.

All we can gather from the survey is that Union Leader readers -- generally more conservative than NH voters as a whole -- voted a certain way. They DO NOT represent anyone but themselves any more than Napster voters represent their point of view and not the public at large.

Sky

[Belmont Resident]

So in other words you believe the survey of registered voters polled about speed limits is accurate? The one taken down in Manchester.
Ok, lets see if I’ve got this right, I’m a NH voter who lives in an apartment, doesn’t own a boat or even travel to any lake in NH, you tell me horror stories about how bad our lakes and rivers are then you expect me to say no to speed limits.
The Union leader poll might have been a way for many who couldn’t let their position be known in the past to finally get their say.

The proponents told many stories some I’m sure are very real, then one woman went on to say something like; 95% of the boats on the lake are under 26’. I believe I got this correct.
Now if I do the math correctly that leaves 5%. How can a mere 5% of all the boats on the lake be creating so much havoc on those 30 something days when the lake is crowded?
I think the BOATERS are finally speaking up. I hope that after the close call with HB162 that many who sat back thinking it couldn’t happen will get involved.
I live here, run a business here and I boat here, I say with absolute truth that I have talked to only a few both on the lake and off that are not opposed to a speed limit.

[Woodsy]

There is point being missed here....

This wasn't a poll per se.... there was no specifically worded question that was asked. The Union Leader simply asked its readers to submit thier opinions on the speed limit comments via e-mail.

I have to admit that I was pretty surprised the Union Leader actually printed the story on the front page of the sunday edition. The Union Leader always seemed to be a pro-speed limit paper... perhaps that has changed?

Link to story...
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Readers+say+%27no%27+to+Winn ipesaukee+speed+limits&articleId=1d1ac533-69c7-43ea-bce5-aa1fa4c37b07

Woodsy

[jrc]

... The Union Leader always seemed to be a pro-speed limit paper... perhaps that has changed?...


I think the Union Leader is a pro-get more readers paper. A big controversial headline gets a lot of people to read, regardless of the statistical methods of the poll.

[SIKSUKR]

I think the Union Leader is a pro-get more readers paper. A big controversial headline gets a lot of people to read, regardless of the statistical methods of the poll.
What newspaper isn't?Isn't that why any free market newspaper is in business?

[jrc]

I guess that was my point. The Union Leader, like any good business, wants to be successful. I don't read it, so I don't know about their bias. But good business should be more important than their opinions.

[SIKSUKR]

Point taken!

[John A. Birdsall]

It is really amazing the problems with speed limits on the big lake. We have seen two accidents this year that were of high speed, but I think that at least one of them was achol related. A boat goes out of water into the trees you cannot say the person was doing minimal speed. But then achol is involved and who knows. He would not have been obeying the speed limits anyway.

As the boating season comes to a close, may we all take the handbook out over the winter and review it more than once. Even the best needs to review. That is a form of boaters education maybe their will be something learned that one did not realize, Like while some boats are made of wood that does not mean they should return to the trees.