It sounds like most of us are in agreement about a few basic things:
1) Many people in today's society display and/or practice a lack of respect for others, their rights, properties or rules and laws.
2) Some of those people share boating priveleges with people that go above and beyond safe boating practices and cause some of them to be afraid.
3) There are several documented instances where poor boating skills or flagrant disrespect of the laws caused serious property and bodily damage or worse, loss of life.
4) Many of the existing rules/laws are difficult to enforce due to manpower, cost, weather conditions or boating traffic.
5) If enforcement officers were visible, then boaters would more than likely obey the boating rules/laws as written in the boating handbook.
The above is basic and I tried to cover all aspects. Obviously I might have mis-stated some things.
This one I am throwing in: At what point is "speeding" speeding? Would jack rabbit acceleration to just above the limit then backing off speeding (like water skiing where you can travel more than headway speed within 150 ft of land)? Is speeding like the old turnpike ticket tolls where you get your card at time X and if you cross given exit by time X+"y" you were speeding? But if you travel 100 mph and stop for coffee before you get to the exit are you still speeding?
Given the above, I still think the time has arrived for technical solutions.
I was watching a Discovery Channel show on Sharks and how they tag them with transmitters to track the sharks' life of wanderings. The group also drops "receivers" around the area that record the shark's tag data everytime it comes within 1/4 mile of the "receiver". This information can be uploaded to a passing "data collector" station and stored for data queries later.
This scenario could be applied to lakes as well. The sharks could be all boats registered to be on NH waterways. In addition to the "receivers" dropped throughout the lake there could be receiver/transmitter sensors mounted atop buoys.
With this equipment in place the computers could work 24 hrs a day gathering data. The types of data could be modified later but could range from boat registration # (or not), boat activity (speed, proximity to other boats/land) to weather and water information. Then with all the information gathered, decisions could be made about deciding where problem areas may exist (excessive speeds for narrow waterways, close proximity to public swimming areas, scheduled sanctioned events, activities of existing businesses, camps, etc.). The above mentioned excessive speeds would be monitored by boats passing the buoys and the times recorded much the same as the highway patrol monitors speeders by timing the vehicles between markings on the highways.
When areas become identified, then rules could be placed on those areas. Maybe Bizer maps or color-coded buoys would be the way to get the info out to the boaters. With this kind of 24/7 monitoring going on, then everyone would know that their boating manners are being watched.
Once the equipment is in place, the uses could be expanded or reduced. After a reasonable data gathering period of time then it could be decided whether limits need to be in place and what they should be. The buoy-top sensors can scan passing craft to verify they have registered sensors or notify marine patrol of boater equipment malfunction for spot checks. These can be set up for yearly re-evaluation based on the running historical data. Severe problem areas would warrant patrol officers present. Otherwise, the marine patrol lake personnel could stay as it is.
The information would be collected by impartial outside agency who would be audited by a state committee. The NH Dept of Safety would control the data queries and make requests available to general public.
All of this may be a bit involved, but look at all the debate over statistic gathering or which group has more political clout, or even naming pulic personnel and questioning their integrities? We know computers can work 24/7. We know facts don't lie. We trust computers to do a lot more than I've listed here. And as far as the Bib Bro fear, we know the technical equipment the Gov't uses is far more advanced than what the general public is allowed to have, but imagine how much detail they access "currently" when we can only see Google Earth images from several months ago.
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