I know this has been suggested in the past and sure,
they're only talking about commercial boats right now,
but how long till the "do-gooders" use this accident to
demand that anybody on _any_ boat be forced to wear a
life jacket at all times?

Of course this would give the aqua-cops a perfect
opportunity to hand out needless tickets (just like
seat belt laws).


South Coast Today.Com
Time to strengthen life jacket regulation

The National Transportation Safety Board has sent
investigators to Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains
this week to investigate the deaths of 20 elderly tourists
who died Sunday afternoon when a 40-foot tour boat capsized
with 49 aboard.

This accident that took the lives of older tourists, many
from the same town in Michigan, raises the issue of whether
we are doing all we can to protect tourists on similar tour
boats.

New York state and Coast Guard rules, which regulate boats
in Massachusetts, require that tour boats of this size have
enough life jackets for all passengers, but do not require
these jackets be worn while aboard. The boats typically have
the jackets in a convenient location, under seats or in a
large bin.

This accident should raise the question whether it is time
to strengthen this regulation and require that passengers
wear life jackets while on the open water.

Tour boat operators give a number of reasons for not
supporting such a requirement.

The manager of a local whalewatch and fishing charter company
said there is the problem of having jackets that properly fit
people. And there are issues of people not wanting to wear a
life jacket that may have a perfume smell or that a person may
be allergic to.

But these seem small issues when compared with the chance
that wearing a jacket might have saved some or all of the
20 tourists who perished in Lake George on a beautiful
autumn Sunday afternoon.

The issue of requiring life jackets be worn should be raised
in New York, Massachusetts and in every state that regulates
tourist boats. The same manager of a charter boat operation
who does not favor requiring life jackets be worn by passengers
also insists that his own young child wear a life jacket when
the child is on one of the company's whalewatch or fishing tour
boats.

If it's good enough for our own children, shouldn't we think
about it for our grandparents, our parents and any tourist
aboard a boat that could capsize on a clear autumn day?