Quote:
Originally Posted by DEJ
A little off topic but what the heck, this thread has gone into the toilet anyway.
At the trial, it was presented by the defense that either the day of this accident or something close to it Mr. Hartman was looking for a stern light that would not be as bright as the one he had in his boat as he liked to star gaze at night and the stern light he had was to bright for him to do so.
It was discussed that possibly he/they had turned their lights off that night as it was a clear night so they could star gaze making their boat difficult if impossible to see. This was ultimately dismissed through testimony of so called experts but this always stuck in my mind. I will always wonder.....
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I had heard the same thing. I had also heard (again "heard" not fact) that an expert had been brought in to testify that he had found the stern light had in fact been burned out prior to the collision but it was not admissable.
Now regardless of this, it was an absolute tragedy.
However what I think is worse is that people try to use this accident as their motivation and use it to point towards the reason for or against the speed limit.
Speed had nothing to do with it. 25, 28, 15, 30 whatever..... It was a tragic accident where the captain failed to keep proper watch. There was most likely booze involved but it wasn't proven and certainly will not be proven here on a forum. Only the man upstairs knows the truth and can judge.
So lets stop using the littlefield accident as the reason to trumpet for speed limits. Many laws were broken that fateful night and the speed limit would not have kept it from happening, it would have been just another broken law to add to the pile.
(only question, was he cited for breaking the 150 ft law?) I would be surprised if not.