Quote:
Originally Posted by VitaBene
El,
I don't know if people are or are not breaking the SL, all we know is no citations have been written. I think I understand your position on the SL, but what about the real safety issues? I have seen more violations than ever before. As I was driving through Center Harbor Saturday, I noted a half dozen or more violations and bonehead moves in the 5 minutes that I watched, even though the speeds looked OK.
I guess the frustration on my part is that I think that the SL was another piece of feel good legislation- I would have been satisfied had the legislature voted a much higher appropriation for enforcement of the existing rules and laws. I really don't care if a boat is going 45 or 55 when it's 30' off my port side!
|
I just don't understand why everyone I meet who uses the lake more casually is saying how much this year's SL and last year's test helped bring civility back to the lake, and all those on this forum (who almost unanimously opposed the SL) are seeing all this mayhem and all these violations. I'm on the lake at least thirty hours a week this summer, and have seen maybe two incidences of bonehead behavior (not counting all the performance boats cruising around with their trims up to make big wakes on purpose) and a handful of SL violators. This compares to the incident-per-minute rate I've witnessed in past years
And my failure to understand is compounded when the same people say on one thread that the SL is having all this negative impact, then on another thread saying it is doing nothing but wasting enforcement dollars (which is it?). And the people saying it wastes those enforcement dollars say on another thread that the MP is not even bothering to enforce and is spending all their time entrapping people into passage violations (which is it?).
My observations are my observations, and I am as entitled to share them as you guys are. My opinions are my opinions, and I am as entitle to express them as you guys are. I refuse to just back and shut up when I read stuff here by a decidedly biased group that so blatantly conflicts with what I am seeing out on the lake. And trying to ram down our throats the notions that 1) things are still crazy out there despite the SL, even though the SL has chased all the boats off the lake (which is it?), 2) There are more violations this year because of the SL, even though going slower is making you all waste so much gas (which is it?), 3) the SL is ruining the shorefront, even though you are still going as fast as you want (which is it?), 4) the SL is destroying the local economy, even though you are ignoring it anyway (which is it?), and 5) all these other contradictions. Most of what I read here disagrees with what most of us who are out on the lake day after day year after year have witnessed, and might fly with your comrades and the naive, but is not going to intimidate the rest of society into buying it.
I'm sorry if my opinion and my boating interests differ from yours. But my passive boating activities never interfered with yours the way yours did with mine, and I simply do not want to see us take a giant step backwards to the mayhem of 2007 and before. The SL is indeed making us feel good, and I like feeling good. You guys should consider the impact your aggressive activities have on others before telling us why we are wrong in opposing them.