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Ernest Scribbler Ernest Scribbler is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 477
Default Deadly accident prompts call for engine limitation, age restrictions for boaters

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote
You can't regulate behavior.


Don't be silly. All laws are designed to regulate behavior.

With the exception of the one about better enforcement of existing laws, the
proposed new regulations that the OP says were prompted by this incident
don't really address the behaviors that led to it, which is a great recipe
for unintended consequences. The guy was well above the proposed minimum
operating age so that's a total red herring. I can't imagine how the results
would have been substantially different if the boat had been powered with
twin 250s instead of twin 435s. According to another report, the cigarette
boat was doing 45mph at the time, which says to me that he probably wasn't
using all 870 horses anyway. The age and horsepower limits strike me as very
poorly conceived remedies. Most of us here recognize reckless when we see
it, and it's already illegal.