I was just reading a post and a survey concerning the licensing of boaters
in some states. The state I am in at present has no requirement for
licensing to operate a boat, but as I understand it, 31 states do.
I am curious about what the thoughts are of the people who frequent this
board. Do licenses reduce accidents and save lives? Or are they just another
beaurucratic paper job to extract more money and provide more jobs for
government workers?
I look forward to hearing your replies.

No, but education does.

Is a fee any different than a tax? License fees simply help balance the budgets
on the backs of boaters.

"Listen to the live broadcast of 'Nautical Talk Radio' with Captain Lou every
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"Capt Lou" wrote in message
...
No, but education does.

Is a fee any different than a tax? License fees simply help balance the
budgets
on the backs of boaters.

That's true when license fees are simply dumped into a general revenue fund
without regard to how they are apportioned. However, in many jurisdictions,
license fees are used as a method of self funding for the cost of government
services relating to the scope of activity that the particular type license
covers.

"Jim Smith" wrote in message
. ..
I was just reading a post and a survey concerning the licensing of boaters
in some states. The state I am in at present has no requirement for
licensing to operate a boat, but as I understand it, 31 states do.
I am curious about what the thoughts are of the people who frequent this
board. Do licenses reduce accidents and save lives? Or are they just
another
beaurucratic paper job to extract more money and provide more jobs for
government workers?
I look forward to hearing your replies.


Relatively few boating accidents, only about 4% of the total, involve
sailboats compared to the number involving power boats and personal
watercraft. The vast majority of boating accidents are caused by operator
error, recklessness and alcohol impairment. Roughly four-fifths of all
boating accidents occured with boats in which the operator had no boating
safety education. In states where mandatory boating education is necessary
to obtain a required boaters license, overall accident rates and boating
fatalities have gone down significantly.

Jim Smith wrote:

I was just reading a post and a survey concerning the licensing of boaters
in some states. The state I am in at present has no requirement for
licensing to operate a boat, but as I understand it, 31 states do.
I am curious about what the thoughts are of the people who frequent this
board. Do licenses reduce accidents and save lives? Or are they just
another beaurucratic paper job to extract more money and provide more jobs
for government workers?
I look forward to hearing your replies.

I am living in the EU, and most states there require a license. And I agree
with that. Even if you do not get a real good introduction to boating, you
get a least an idea what this is all about. You learn something about the
rules, what to do and what to avoid. In short, one is (slightly) less
clueless. Just ask the professionals what they think about boaters and why.
You will rather fast see that most professionals have a very dim view of
boaters, and for good reason
It also helps to charter a boat, since most bareboat charterers want to see
some paper which states that you have some general knowledge. Otherwise
they could have problems with their insurance.

While it certainly may be some type of overkill in some cases, in general a
boating license is a good idea
--
Hardware, n.:
The parts of a computer system that can be kicked.

Peter Köhlmann lifted the trapdoor, peered
around and wrote:

While it certainly may be some type of overkill in some cases, in general a
boating license is a good idea

Any regulation and licensing is only a good idea if it can be demonstrated
to actually do something positive.

In the case of sailing .... the accident rates are incredibly low, and
there is no suggestion they can be lowered significantly by imposing yet
more regulation.

There are those who believe sailing should be regulated, simply because it
isn't.

Professionals will always regard "amateurs" as lesser mortals, regardless
of how many licenses they hold! It's mandatory!

steveb