How Regulations Help
Wow, what a wonderful variety of input. For those that don't know me, I'm a charter (rental) boat company and sailing school owner. I provide rental and charter boats, both power and sail, along with a wide variety of training for both power and sail; everything from "the pointy end is the bow" to "that star is Regulus" and "Yes, that's a 40-foot wave!" In my experience I have found that even the slightest bit of education helps a great deal when it comes to boating. No, it is not possible to teach everything about boating in a brief course, but at least it introduces persons to the information that is necessary to safely operate and pilot a vessel. Our school has found the value of multiple programs and offers as many different curriculums as possible. For example, we work closely with the US Power and Sail Squadrons all over the state, the USCG Auxilary, USCG, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, County Sherriff's Department, and Local Police. We also offer the ASA and US Sailing Keelboat Certification Programs and the US Sailing Powerboat Certification Program. Through all of these programs, we have proudly helped over 5000 people become safer boaters. The state is helping out, too. Although we are trying to lobby for tougher laws, more enforcement, and even a Boater's Licensing requirement, the legislature moves slowly and wants justification as to why the state should take on such a huge burden. Here's what they asked the public (boating professionals) to do: 1) Prove that training actually does something 2) Submit a plan that will allow the state to provide a thorough licensing program without a burden to taxpayers 3) Submit a plan for enforcement. Here's what we did: 1) Worked with NASBLA (National Association of Safe Boating Law Administrators) to get the national standard for safe boating up to speed. (It now contains the USCG minimum requirements for safety afloat.) 2) Developed the state's Boater Education program into a volunteer instructor program. In the last five years we've gone from 2,237 boater's education certificates per year to 23,587 so far this year. We proved that boater education saves lives with the following data: In 1998, Texas had 187 persons killed in 2,891 boating accidents, so far in 2002, there have been only 48 killed in 437 accidents. Each year we see a reduction. 3) We worked with the law enforcement agencies and were able to get "boating violations" placed onto "Driver's License". They have also added two aspects to tickets: a) Instead of just a ticket for, say, "no PFDs" ($29 fine), they make the ticket for "no PFDs and Negligent Operation!" ($486 fine and Boater Education Class Mandatory) This alone has really put a damper on the foolish acts (translates to: less alcohol consumption.) b)DUIs on the water lead to immediate vessel confiscation and you go directly to jail pending bond hearing. 4) We have found that an endorsement to a Driver's License can be just as effective as a new license, so we have submitted a program to the state outlining the program that will allow boater's to get an endorsement on their Driver's License after taking a test and providing proof of compentency on the water. The program is very similar to the USCG Licensing that allows APPROVED SCHOOLS to provide the training, and perform the on-the-water testing so the government does not have to deal with it. We have submitted that many accredited schools and certification programs that are already certified by NASBLA could perform these on-the-water certification procedures. Legislation is close to approving the whole thing. It's cheap, requires only that the state add another "endorsement" to the already-existing Driver's License program, and places all of the cost burden on the boater. (Average fees for the one-time training and on-the-water compentency check will be around $250 per person. Very little compared to the cost of boats and accidents. We haven't quite gotten the follow-up program developed yet; the USCG requires relicensing every five years. We're working on that one.) 5)We worked with the state to allow collaboration of enforcement efforts. Previously, inland waters could only be patrolled by the Game Warden (1-5 per county) or one other designated agency. Now, any body of water can be jointly patrolled by any law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction on land bordering the waters and each agency's jurisdiction exists over all the water. For example, Lake Texoma is on the border of Texas and Oklahoma and has 89,000 acres of water surface and 580 miles of shoreline. This body of water used to be patrolled by ONE USCG Active Duty Officer whose office was 90 miles away in Dallas. Now, both OK and TX Game Wardens, Sherriffs, and Police patrol the lake; that's 22 counties and 60+ communities working together to patrol the area. It works a lot better and accidents have been reduced to less than a dozen per year. (There are 17,000 boats in permanent slips on the lake.) 6) We have lobbied insurance companies to provide discounts to holders of a boater's education certificate from the state, USCG Aux, or US Power and Sail Squadron. Currently, we know of 11 companies that are participating. In reading the previous replies, I noticed lots of folks saying they don't want the regulations to exist. I would like to submit that all 50 states have boating laws. All 50 states have slightly different boating laws, true, but they all have them. The hard part is enforcing them; we simply don't have enough law enforcement personnel to help out. Rhode Island is currently the leader in Boating Legislation as they have a full-scale licensing requirement. CT, MI, and VA tie at second with education requirements. All other states have some basic requirements for persons under 18 riding PWCs, but that's about it. Almost all states do have a state-sponsored boater educaton program. I would strongly encourage everyone to get more involved in boating safety, support your state's program, and take some classes. Yes, you'll run across some instructors out there that have their own way of doing something or will recommend against a law. Just remember, if you get into court, the judge couldn't care less what your Instructor had to say, what counts is the law; so, make sure your instructor is part of an approved program not just "some guy that can teach you something". If your instructor does say something that doesn't seem right, look it up in the book yourself and go with that or call your state's department for clarification. Will there always be idiots that just can't follow the rules, ignore everyone else, and play the fool? Yes. Will there always be those that place blame on everyone but themselves? Yes. Will there always be those that consider regulations as violations of personal freedom? Yes. Will there always be those that consider regulations as guidance and protective tools? Yes. Will there always be those that are simply and unfortunately ignorant of the rules? Yes. (Stupidity cannot be fixed, ignorance can!) Wouldn't you feel better if you knew that the guy on the other boat was required to know the rules? What if the guy on the other boat knows exactly as much as you do? Is that a good thing or bad? Thanks for your patience!
