On 23/06/2010 11:30 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:19:24 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
On 22/06/2010 6:59 PM, nom=de=plume wrote:

wrote in message
...
Tragic:

http://www.newschannel9.com/news/cre...-capsized.html

Terrible loss of life. Not even wearing life jackets... sad.

Darwinian actually.

It is law, if you are in a shipping lane or channel, and you are more
manouvable you ge tthe frac out of the way. Unless you have diver flags
out, then the barge would be at fault.

Would be interesting to see who they blame.

--
The bigger government gets, the more it tends to rule out common sense.

Unless there are facts we're not privy to, I think it's pretty obvious who
has the majority of the fault. But, I suspect that the barge operator will
take some percentage blame. Even if she was doing everything 'right', she
would still have the obligation to avoid a collision.


If you are a captain pushing a barge train, there isn't much you can
do to avoid a collision.
9 barges at a couple million pounds each are not going to turn on a
dime and it might take a couple miles to stop them.
About he can do is blow his horn.

In the strictest sense, it is in the details.

If the small boat was at anchor, then this gives the boater a certian
right as they are not under power. While the barge being obviously less
maneuverable has the right of way *provided* the small boat is under power.

If the boat was not under power and at anchor, the barge MUST warn of
it's intent. It can't just blindly go down the river hell bent for
election and blindly run it down.

Another factor is about where the boat was anchored, is it a marked
right of way for shipping lane? This is unfavorable for the small boat
if so marked as you are not to park your arse in a active shiping lane.
But if outside the shipping lane, this is unfavorable to the barge.

We didn't get enough details on the read to say who was in fact guilty.

Even gets more complex on what flags were out, such as a diver flag.

Speed of the abrge is less importannt here. Other than he may have been
going faster than he could safely control it. For example, if the small
boat was on anchor, out of the shiping lanes it has the right and if the
barge was going too fast for control, that is a problem with the barge
captain.

--
The bigger government gets, the more it tends to rule out common sense.