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Originally Posted by Islander
A 24' Wellcraft is about the same size and weight as the Hartman boat. There would have been a collision but perhaps no death. The Littfield boat was much heavier, had more inertia and had a high bow causing it to go up and over the Hartman boat. Have you seen the re-enactment photo?
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Yes I have seen the re-anactment photo. If I recall it correctly the Littlefield boat overran the stern of the Hartman's boat, crossing and exitting out the side. Mr Hartman was seated in the rear. If Littlefield had the "Mee'n'Mac" that night I doubt the outcome would have been much different. I believe the overrun would still have occurred. Do you recall the boat that ran up the Alton town docks a few years ago ? Or the 23' SeaRay that ended up on the pontoon boat this year ? Both show what happens when the bow contacts another surface. Now the Hartman's boat wouldn't have been as swamped and Littlefield and passengers would have undergone a larger "bump" but that's not the issue is it.
But the whole argument sounds odd to me because I thought the intention of speed limits was to reduce the likelyhood of a collision not reduce the post collision effects. On that thought I don't see how the Harman tragedy has much to do with a speed limit (short of your belief that boats such as Littlefield's will go away on a speed limited lake)
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Originally Posted by Islander
If you own a Ferrari there is nowhere you can go to open it up legally. A valid analogy would be if there were some highways with speed limits and some highways with none. If RT 93 in NH had no speed limit but all other highways in New England did, what would happen? Rt 93 would be where owners of high performance cars would come to so they could drive at 120 plus. This would not be a safe thing for a family car going 65 on Rt 93.
Other than Winni there are not many large bodies of water around without speed limits. There is of course the Great Lakes and the Atlantic. And by the way, Lake Champlain is a Great Lake and is not a U.S. lake.
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I'm not sure what you're trying to convey in the above. Do you believe that the problems on the lake mostly stem from the importation of boats into the lake and that should a speed limit become law that these boats won't trailered in ? Or something else ? I'm trying to avoid assumptions here.
In regard to the safety of family car ... well that's a debate for another forum but it does spark an idea. Say you're in the family car doing 65 and Mario Andretti comes by you at 120 in his Ferrari. You know it's Mario and not somebody else. In this limited hypothetical situation would you be afraid or worried about your safety ?