elchase

There used to be races almost every weekend on our lake before the Speed Limit discouraged them. Numerous Poker Races with boats operating just like in this race were held on the lake each summer (see Forum Archive "A horde invades quiet waters" Posted By: 3gW Sunday, July 27, 2003 at 9:24 p.m.), and first thing Saturday and Sunday mornings you'd see and hear the bass boats all racing each other from the tourney starting points to the best fishing spots across the lake. In the afternoons, you'd see all the performance boaters, many looking and sounding just like these "race boats", racing each other from Braun Bay across the lake to get the best docks at the Naswa for an afternoon of boozing before getting back behind the helm. (oh ya, drinking authorizes them to go fast ) Sorry if the tone of this response unintentionally offends.
I don't see how being on the wide open ocean versus a crowded lake makes it less dangerous here than there. Are you saying the physics of salt water made this happen there? Or are you saying that with so many other boats in their path, these boats probably would have already hit someone before reaching these speeds? If it can happen there, it MORE LIKELY can (and often did) happen here. Sorry if the tone of this response unintentionally offends.
They are. And while you guys are focusing on whether these drivers were drunk or underage, or whether the water was salty or the kayak was out too far, they are focusing on the sheer volume of crashes and deaths resulting from boats going too fast, losing control, and colliding into one another or into shore. While they had been told that high speed boating is safe and that deaths were a rarity...a fluke...they are seeing evidence that proves otherwise. They are recognizing that while each particular case may have some statement or detail ("he was drunk!"???) that can be twisted to excuse the tragedy or make it sound like that accident could not or would not have happened on a no-rules Winnipesaukee, the common theme is that boats going too fast are hard to control, that boaters who think they are in control are suddenly recognizing that they are not, and that it is most often the innocent (passengers or bystanders) who are getting killed...all over the world...in the ocean and on lakes...by teenagers and adults...by drunk pilots and sober pilots. Like me, you guys have a bias and will read this stuff through tinted glasses (as I admittedly do). But our legislators and the rest of our citizenry will come away with the realization that high speed boating is just plain dangerous, no matter where it occurs, and certainly does not belong on our crowded lake again. We gave that a try and it did not work. Sorry if the tone of this response unintentionally offends.

Here's another perfect example from this summer. An innocent 12 year old girl gets killed. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386204/posts
And yes, I did read the article and know the guy was drunk...that is not the point. Maybe this drunk would have ignored a speed limit anyway and still killed her. Who's to say? But does that mean we should tell him his speed was ok and legal just because he would not have slowed down anyway? At the end of the day...at the moment of impact...it was his SPEED that killed her. The fact is that when his speeding boat hit her, THAT killed her. As Ryan will confirm, the energy of impact (which is what does the killing in most collisions) is a function of the SQUARE of the speed. Boats going fast are much much ("much squared") more dangerous than boats going slow. So we need to encourage slower and safer boating speeds. We do that with laws...with reasonable speed limits that tell idiots who cannot judge for themselves what top speed is appropriate. And the rest of us, who are not idiots, have to respect these limits as a consequence. Saying to these idiots "there are no hard rules...just decide for yourself" is not appropriate. It does not work. 45 is a fair and reasonable limit for any appropriate boating activity on our lake. And it is a good compromise already. It has been shown to work all over the country and to work here. Why fix what ain't broke?
Sorry if the tone of this response unintentionally offends, but I really think you guys are just offended because you know in your selfish hearts that what I am saying is right and you just don't want to hear it.