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Ski Man · 04-01-2005, 02:06 PM

Rick,
Thanks for the heads-up. As you should recall, I too was a huge opponent to the speed limit. In fact, I was one of the speakers against the bill at the January hearing. I saw the speed limit as another restriction on personal freedom. But my visit to the link you provided, www.winnfabs.com, really opened my eyes to this issue. I now recognize that my earlier opinion was based on a lot of disinformation being presented as fact by those whose profits would be impacted by this bill, and by my ignorance of the much broader impact that a lack of such a limit has been having on the freedoms of the public at large. I guess the marinas and cigarette boaters had successfully tricked many of us into believing that it was their "right" to buzz around the lake at dangerously fast speeds, and that it was the general public that was being selfish. The lack of "statistics" was used to prove that speed is not dangerous, when in fact, there were no statistics even being recorded about speed, so how could there be any proof. The fallibility of the "statistics" argument became very apparent when I saw that the two boats that flipped over on the lake last summer while speeding very fast and all alone, one going 90MPH in a straight line on the Broads, and another going over 70MPH in Alton, were recorded "statistically" as reckless operation. I also so that Director Barrett had testified that NO speed was too fast for the lake, and had earlier testified that a no-wake zone in Center Harbor would actually create danger (?). In consideration of this, how could I take any of his January testimony seriously? I just felt so foolish after researching this a bit more, and wanted to make sure that others, who were tricked like me, take a more serious look at the facts before taking too firm a stance on the wrong side of this issue.

04-01-2005, 02:06 PM	#8
Ski Man Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 50 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Rick, Thanks for the heads-up. As you should recall, I too was a huge opponent to the speed limit. In fact, I was one of the speakers against the bill at the January hearing. I saw the speed limit as another restriction on personal freedom. But my visit to the link you provided, www.winnfabs.com, really opened my eyes to this issue. I now recognize that my earlier opinion was based on a lot of disinformation being presented as fact by those whose profits would be impacted by this bill, and by my ignorance of the much broader impact that a lack of such a limit has been having on the freedoms of the public at large. I guess the marinas and cigarette boaters had successfully tricked many of us into believing that it was their "right" to buzz around the lake at dangerously fast speeds, and that it was the general public that was being selfish. The lack of "statistics" was used to prove that speed is not dangerous, when in fact, there were no statistics even being recorded about speed, so how could there be any proof. The fallibility of the "statistics" argument became very apparent when I saw that the two boats that flipped over on the lake last summer while speeding very fast and all alone, one going 90MPH in a straight line on the Broads, and another going over 70MPH in Alton, were recorded "statistically" as reckless operation. I also so that Director Barrett had testified that NO speed was too fast for the lake, and had earlier testified that a no-wake zone in Center Harbor would actually create danger (?). In consideration of this, how could I take any of his January testimony seriously? I just felt so foolish after researching this a bit more, and wanted to make sure that others, who were tricked like me, take a more serious look at the facts before taking too firm a stance on the wrong side of this issue.