Quote:
Originally Posted by jrc
Well as I asked you originally, what speed is safe in this situation? You can't name a number because it depends on the conditions. A power boat can kill at any speed.
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Let's start with these:
1) The speed that doesn't cut kayaks in half, or
2) The speed that doesn't launch a Donzi dealer into a 32-foot cabin cruiser to kill a married couple, or
3) The speed that doesn't send a Dominator 130-feet up a hillside after killing two boaters.
An after-dark 25-MPH is generally regarded
as reasonable, even by the few detractors of Winnipesaukee speed limits. Under several adverse conditions/alcohol, one could still be charged additionally with
Failure to Keep a Proper Watch, as Littlefield was: unless they're
totally wasted, drinking speedboaters become thrill-killers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jrc
So picking an arbitrary speed to prevent death is impossible.
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At a then-legal 45-MPH speed, Littlefield could have gotten away with leaving a debris field in his wake, keeping his killer 4˝-ton boat out of sight, and leaving scant evidence of criminal activity. In leaving no witnesses, there'd be no prosecution and, subsequently, no House Bill 162 or 847. At "only" 28-MPH, two witnesses remained to trigger the hit-and-run investigation. With New Hampshire's new $2000 theshold for reporting collision damage—and slower speeds—the case wouldn't have made headlines. (Or the
one new law that the Legislature has already made.)
I, for one, am delighted for the witnesses.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jrc
Evil power boaters are against paddlers.
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How about "Lake Lice"? And the paddlers they "can't see"?
Are there maybe two dozen Winnipesaukee testosterone-driven sociopaths who have driven Winnipesaukee's HB-847 to this point?
It's not the family boaters who are to blame for a few dozen ocean-racers' transgressions on Lake Winnipesaukee: one Long Lake resident regarded the nearby double-fatality by observing, "This isn't Miami".
Quote:
Originally Posted by jrc
One with a propeller can kill when stopped.
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Agreed: even on the trailer, ocean-racer propellers can kill. Many have razor-sharp "Cleavers".
To avoid "cleaving" the neighborhood kids, special caution should be observed by ocean-racers. Covers, boxes, and gloves are manufactured for razor-sharp propellers with the same Kevlar that is used in bullet-proof vests.
Here's a photograph provided by a retailer of those protective devices: