Is a Boating Certificate REALLY necessary?

[LIforrelaxin]

Originally Posted by Mr. V

I visit the lake infrequently, and operate a boat very rarely.

NH law now requires that I have a boater's certificate in order to operate a boat over a certain HP.

Curious as to the penalty for not having such a certificate, I checked and the first offense is a $50 fine, and all subsequent offenses are $250.

No criminal fines or penalties, it would seem, just a fairly nominal civil sanction; seems to be a traffic infraction.

So, I weigh the odds: what are the odds that the MP will actually discover me operating a boat without a certificate?

That is my question: how zealously are they inspecting boats since the law came into effect?

Do they do a lot of random checks, or does the driver typically have to screw up to warrant their attention?

Do they issue warnings?

Seems to me it might be worth the risk to chance it, rather than spent the time needed to take the course, but I will probably take a Coast Guard Auxiliary approved course .

Mr V.. I don't know you from a hole in the wall. However it is people with attitudes like you show in this post, trying to navigate around the law, just to avoid the loss of a Saturday in a class room course, that are causing this country to become more and more a nanny state.

Back when people took responsibility for there actions and took those responsibilities seriously, because the fine where harsh we had a overall much better behaved society. But now because oh hell if I just let this slide, what is 50$ dollar fine, kind of attitudes that have things falling apart. I am a strict believer in harsh punishments.... Fines should be made harsh enough to make people think twice and do what is right.... 50$ should be more like 5000$ dollars...

We are way to easy on people that break minor civil laws these days, and for that matter way to easy on people that break major criminal laws as well. I do believe we need to go back to a simpler time when 3 years in jail means 3 years in jail... not 6 months in jail and an earlier release with probation.... fines shouldn't match what it cost to do things right like the case of getting caught without a boating certificate, it should be 100 times worse.

People get off way to easily in this country, we need harsher penalties especially when people knowingly circumvent the law.