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New Jersey operator licensing
DSK wrote:
wrote: What is the downside of this? I'm all for it. Well, sure. You're already stuck having to take classs and get a license. .... Us PWC'ers have been the first segment of boating to be subject to mandatory education requirements over the last five or six years or so, we have been all for it from the beginning, Not all PWCers are "all for it" Well, the pwc'ing COMMUNITY at large is all for it and has been ever since I"ve been a part of that community for that last nine years or so. PWC rights advocacy groups and IMO all of us more responsible, informed, thinking riders, have advocated and supported, mandatory education and certification, for ALL boaters as long as I've been involved, and it seems like an excellent idea to me. and there are still a lot of jetski drivers who operate their boats dangerously & offensively. Yes, and operators of other size and shape power boats too. That is why it seems look a great idea to try to guarantee that anyone driving one has at least been instructed in the basics. Some do it even after taking classes & getting licensed, seems like they consider it part of the fun. The reason why PWC's were the first to be regulated & to have a license required was due to the large number of incidents wherein PWC drivers injured others. Injuring yourself is not the state's business IMHO. I don't follow your thinking at all. Power boaters with bigger boats than pwc's can certainly do lots of damage to others and the properties of others as well as to themselves, and often do. (And to their families and passengers.) .... it seems to me that it would suggest that it's not really any additional burden for sailors because they're probably getting educated and trained before they hit the water anyway. Yeah, let's just go ahead and have the gov't burden them with classes & licensing req'ments etc etc, after all they can't possibly harm anybody else at 5 knots. I don't really see what the big burden is. The class is 8 hours and free, here in New York State anyway. And you don't want people to get the idea that it's a free country. I don't know that the "it's a free country" platitude dissuades me from thinking that this is a good idea, especially when you look at accident and injury statistics in states that have done it already. I guess you're not in favor of automobile licensing either? After all, I suppose, it's anyone's free choice to get onto a crowded road they know is populated by tons of dangerous uneucated maniacs.....every man for himself, why would the government have any interest in stepping on my freedom by insisting that I learn to drive and get tested before I get behind the wheel? I guess I must be some kind of communist. Sounds to me like some people just think they're too good to take the course and just don't want to be bothered...tough. richforman |
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