Winnipesaukee Forum - View Single Post

jeffk · 03-20-2007, 10:37 AM

When I put fertilizer on my lawn I expect, within a period of time, for my grass to be greener, thicker, and more robust. If my car is making a funny noise and I take it to a mechanic, when I get it back I expect the noise to be gone. When I order a steak medium-well I expect it lightly charred on the outside and pink on the inside.

So if we institute speed limits on the lake what will success look like?

We can't measure through accident statistics because there are almost no high speed accidents.

We might try to measure the number of speeding tickets issued but if you look at the Lake George (a commonly sited speed limit success story) Marine patrol report for 2005 there were no tickets issued to PWCs for speeds in excess of the 45 MPH limit in 2004 or 2005. None, zip, nada. (There were No Wake speeding violations but that is something we already can do). The report doesn't break out speeding tickets for other types of vessels so we could only speculate about those. So will we see any speeding tickets issued? How many tickets need to be issued before the lake is "safer"?

Will we see less congestion, especially around popular areas?

Will people who cut us off and ignore safety laws and courtesy now behave better? How will we tell? Will we see "Boy Scout" boats escorting other boats across busy crossing areas?

Will the camp swimmers and canoeists be safe in the water with boats going 40 MPH instead of 60 MPH?

Will the boats battered by wakes of other boats cutting too close to them now have smooth sailing?

Will we also reckon the possible costs?

If someone is injured or killed in a reckless skiing or tubing accident will we attribute that cost to the fact that the Marine Patrol was too busy passing out speeding tickets in the Broads to observe the reckless behavior and put a stop to it?

As to the constitution, hasn't anyone seen the powerboat clause?

Many of the framers of the constitution were worried about government interfering without just cause. The Bill of Rights and other amendments were established to specify certain important rights but the overall message was for government to keep their hands off. Unfortunately, as time goes by, we cede more and more "rights" to our various governments.

I have no problem with a "trial" period and location for speed limit enforcement, especially in areas that most reasonable people would probably be going slow anyway. However, what is a "successful trial"?? And how would success in the trial lead to?

03-20-2007, 10:37 AM	#24
jeffk Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Center Harbor Posts: 1,135 Thanks: 201 Thanked 421 Times in 239 Posts	What does success look like? When I put fertilizer on my lawn I expect, within a period of time, for my grass to be greener, thicker, and more robust. If my car is making a funny noise and I take it to a mechanic, when I get it back I expect the noise to be gone. When I order a steak medium-well I expect it lightly charred on the outside and pink on the inside. So if we institute speed limits on the lake what will success look like? We can't measure through accident statistics because there are almost no high speed accidents. We might try to measure the number of speeding tickets issued but if you look at the Lake George (a commonly sited speed limit success story) Marine patrol report for 2005 there were no tickets issued to PWCs for speeds in excess of the 45 MPH limit in 2004 or 2005. None, zip, nada. (There were No Wake speeding violations but that is something we already can do). The report doesn't break out speeding tickets for other types of vessels so we could only speculate about those. So will we see any speeding tickets issued? How many tickets need to be issued before the lake is "safer"? Will we see less congestion, especially around popular areas? Will people who cut us off and ignore safety laws and courtesy now behave better? How will we tell? Will we see "Boy Scout" boats escorting other boats across busy crossing areas? Will the camp swimmers and canoeists be safe in the water with boats going 40 MPH instead of 60 MPH? Will the boats battered by wakes of other boats cutting too close to them now have smooth sailing? Will we also reckon the possible costs? If someone is injured or killed in a reckless skiing or tubing accident will we attribute that cost to the fact that the Marine Patrol was too busy passing out speeding tickets in the Broads to observe the reckless behavior and put a stop to it? As to the constitution, hasn't anyone seen the powerboat clause? Many of the framers of the constitution were worried about government interfering without just cause. The Bill of Rights and other amendments were established to specify certain important rights but the overall message was for government to keep their hands off. Unfortunately, as time goes by, we cede more and more "rights" to our various governments. I have no problem with a "trial" period and location for speed limit enforcement, especially in areas that most reasonable people would probably be going slow anyway. However, what is a "successful trial"?? And how would success in the trial lead to?