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Boat speed limit backers say changing law will do harm
Laconia:

By JOHN KOZIOL
jkoziol@citizen.com


Wednesday, January 12, 2011


DARYL CARLSON/CITIZEN PHOTO BOATING SPEED limit bill proponents Warren Hutchins, left, and Weldon Bosworth discuss why it would be bad to change the current 30/45 mph limits already established on Lake Winnipesaukee.


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Supporters of the current boating speed limits on Lake Winnipesaukee fear that a proposed bill to "enhance and modify" the law would actually gut it, putting at risk the safety of all lake users as well as the tourism-based economy on which the Lakes Region relies.

Although still in its draft form, the bill introduced by Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, D-Manchester, "Relative to Speed Limitations for Boats" would, according to Safe Boaters of New Hampshire, feature "an escalating fine structure, allowing a violator to pay a fine rather than the more expensive option forcing a Marine Patrol officer to be tied up in court. It also establishes a way to permanently ban habitual offenders from New Hampshire waterways."

The bill would no longer require a Marine Patrol to clock a boat by radar, instead, per U.S. Coast Guard regulations regarding speed on the water, the officer would be able to "use his/her training to determine if a boat operator is traveling too fast for the prevailing conditions without regard to actual miles per hour," SBONH said.

But Sandy Helve, Weldon Bosworth and Warren Hutchins, who began the successful fight for speed limits five years ago, largely through the Winnipesaukee Family Alliance for Boating Safety (WinnFABS), worry that the bill would make the Big Lake a less safe and less inviting place.

There is no doubt, the trio said on Tuesday during an interview at The Citizen, that Lake Winnipesaukee has been a nicer place for swimmers, sailors, kayakers, canoeist and power boaters since the speed limits went into effect. SBONH, however, says there is no evidence that the speed limits have made any difference.

For his part D'Allesandro said the goal of his bill is the same as that of WinnFABS: public safety.

"It (the bill) uses the Coast Guard guidelines and the guidelines are that if it's unreasonable, it's a problem and it uses the same criteria for all of the weeks," D'Allesandro explained.

Asked about opposition to his bill — Helve, who is from Nashua and summers on Bear Island — said a bill similar to D'Allesandro's has also been proposed in the House of Representatives — the Queen City lawmaker replied "everybody has an opinion."

While he said it has support among some lawmakers, D'Allesandro said the fate of his bill was uncertain.

"I think it's a real toss-up at this point," he said.

Obviously, we all want good, safe boating and that's an important issue. If there are things in the bill they disagree with, we're always open to considering them at the appropriate time."

Helve said D'Allesandro's bill would make the current speed limit law moot because without the actual enumeration of the permitted speeds, law enforcement officials would not be able to prosecute offenders under the bill's legally vague "reasonable and prudent" language.

In a survey of public safety officials at lakes around the country that have speed limits, the WinnFABS members said they were told that the language is "an antiquated Coast Guard phrase that is no longer used without specific numbered speed limits to delineate the maximum speeds allowed."

As unenforceable as "reasonable and prudent" was, it also confused boaters, the WinnFABS' survey found.

Hutchins, who is a Laconia resident, said the challenge for speed limit supporters is to educate the public and the General Court — whose all-Republican supermajorities in the House, Senate and Executive Council all include many new and first-time lawmakers — about the value of the current law and the threat to it posed by D'Allesandro's bill.

He questioned why the bill wasn't introduced by a legislator from the Lakes Region and expressed concern that with the new Legislature, the area now has no representation at all on the important House Transportation Committee which will likely consider D'Allesandro's proposal.

A marine biologist from Gilford, Bosworth said the speed limit is not about how many incidents or accidents were recorded, "it's whether people feel comfortable out there," and over the past two years, people feel comfortable going out on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Rusty McLear, the owner of Hampshire Hospitality Holdings which includes the Inn at Church Landing and the Inns and Spa at Mill Falls in Meredith, said in a prepared statement that while no one "likes more rules and regulations," a "tipping point" has been reached on Lake Winnipesaukee.

"More and more, larger and larger, faster and faster boats vying for the same space cannot continue. The 45/30 mph speed limit law is one tool to slow us all down a little and return some measure of civility, safety and serenity to our lakes and to help us to continue to attract the broadest market of visitors."

Helve said the speed limit law has support from camp directors around the lake as well as from the almost the 5,000 people who signed a petition in favor of it.

"People are happy with the law," she said, and those who oppose it, though having gotten the ear of some lawmakers, "are few and far in between."

"We need to keep attracting families and dollars" to the Lakes Region, said Helve, and the way to do that is to make the latter feel welcome on Lake Winnipesaukee. Already, said Bosworth, there is a "vast difference in the tenor," on the lake.