Quote:
Originally Posted by jmen24
The way I see it, time has not passed on the possibility of compromise. I have been in contact with several legislators in regard to allowing this law to sunset and replacing with one that actually solves the issues.
My suggestions have been:
Increased penalty for BUI.
Increased penalty for violating a NWZ.
Maintain a speed limit (not necessarily 45, but that works) in areas that the lake is less than 2000 feet wide.
Raise the night time speed to 35MPH to reduce shore erosion, this would remain lake wide .
In areas that are wider than 2000 feet, no speed limit, but increase distance from shore to 300 feet in these zones.
Adopting USCG rules and giving them teeth that NHMP can use.
Some suggestions that I think I may add.
Hnuts eliminating the online certificates (this also affects myself)
and my creating NWZ's around areas of specific concern for safety, i.e. BI's summer camps.
This law also has absolutely no affect on my enjoyment of the lake, as it stands right now, I have not owned a power boat in two years (16ft bowrider with 48HP outboard) and did not use the boat for a period of three years before I sold it. The boats that we are looking into purchasing now, are cruisers and would not realistically reach 45MPH.
My feelings on how the legislature has handled this and serveral other laws have been stated and do not need to be repeated.
But I am not in favor of supporting a law that was dreamed up by irrational or emotional thought.
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jmen, I'm actually all for a nighttime limit of 35MPH. Believe it or not that was one of my first posts on this subject all those years ago. I alluded to it a couple of posts ago. Nighttime is such a different topic. I almost think that there should be two separate topic areas. Speed Limit Debate and Nighttime Speed Limit Debate. The two scenarios are so completely different.
I'd be surprised if any Speed Limit opposer did not feel that a Nighttime speed limit would be acceptable no matter what. I think the hair splitting comes in when we discuss what that limit should be. After this summer I can most assuredly tell you that 25MPH is too slow. It became evident to me that a non-boater or at least someone with no nighttime boating experience came up with this arbitrary number. Even an extra 5MPH would make all the difference in the world.
As a matter of fact the majority of one particular members flood posts were highlighting accidents that occurred at night. If we were to all agree that there should be a nighttime speed limit what then would Supporters use for "stories" to back a daytime speed limit.