Quote:
Originally Posted by Mink Islander
Not sure what a “legitimate accident” is. I’d call this a “avoidable accident”.
I’m not disagreeing that darker colored kayaks are harder to see. But I’ve not read anywhere what color the kayak was, what color his paddles were and what color his life vest was. Regardless, if you run over an 11 foot floating object in the lake at 5 in the PM on a clear, calm day, you, the operator weren’t paying attention. That’s the preventable part. And that’s why this is such a rare event on the lake. MOST captains pay attention — and don’t run away when they are in an accident, oh by the way.
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It sounds like you are trying to differentiate between an accident and negligence and it is possible to have both at the same time, but still not be an intentional event.
Sorry I may also not have been as clear as I should be, my comments were more about rules not actually physically protecting people in kayaks from accidents with power boats (negligence or not), and were not specifically about the accident victims in this situation.
Too often I have observed kayakers later/closer than I am comfortable with, and I am a very active and alert driver. But some days the lighting and the wind and waves and the colors of the kayaks and kayakers life jackets make it very hard to see them, and I can see how some accidents can happen. It matters not that the kayak is 11' long or 20' long, height and color is what catches my eye. And that 5:00 time frame can be horrible depending on the time of year, as the sun angle can be blinding.
I make no judgement in this situation as I know little factual details about it. I simply raise the issue that accidents do happen and there are things that can be done to increase kayaker visibility and possibly reduce the risk of an accident.
You dont have to agree that there is such a thing as an accident, but look up the term:
an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.
If you believe the operator of the boat intentionally ran over the kayak, that is a different matter than an accident or negligence.
It is also important to understand that having an accident does not necessarily relieve responsibility, it may or may not, but clearly the term accident speaks of intent.
As for leaving the scene of accident, I dont excuse that in any way, but sadly it does seem to happen too often. Panic I suppose, but in the end it only compounds the situation for everyone, and may well result in lose of life or more severe injury due to lack of timely medical treatment.
Again it was a tragic and unfortunate event regardless of it being and accident (with or without negligence) or intentional.