On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 08:12:36 -0400, "Netsock" wrote:


"Ed Stasiak" wrote in message
roups.com...

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

Big difference between life jackets and seat belts...apples and oranges.

But if you drive a car without a seat belt, you should get a
ticket...period.

In fact, I would support higher fines for those who dont buckle up.

What I dont get, are the motorcycle helmet laws. Why would a state, require
auto restraints, but allow bike riders to go helmetless?

Stupid.

Why cross post?

I agree with your helmet comments.

--
John H

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so."

Ronald Reagan

Larry Bud wrote:
Should be a 'federal' regulation. That way a tourist could expect a bare
minimum of protection wherever they go.


Who's preventing a tourist from wearing a life jacket when they go on a
boat?

Not just the life jacket... how about regulating/inspecting the tour
boat/captain.

On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 18:01:56 -0700, chuckgould.chuck wrote:


Certain situations, such as single handing, call for PFD as well. I
wear an inflatable pfd when I take our 36-footer out by myself. To me,
it only makes sense to do so. I don't plan on falling overboard (and
99% of the people who do fall overboard don't plan on it, either), but
if I'm by myself and fall in nobody is going to hear me holler for help
or notice that I'm gone.

Trouble is, when singlehanding in the waters we do, a PFD simply means
you'll die from hypothermia rather than drowning. Wear a harness!!

Going overboard is BAD, especially in cold water, rough seas (poor chance
of being sighted), etc. I feel the PFD is overrated: many feel "safe" just
because they have one on. Sure, wear one (there are some comfy, stylish
ones out there!), but don't think you're safe just because you're wearing
one.

Case in point: the original accident cited in the OP. Several victims were
trapped in the boat: a PFD makes it pretty much impossible to escape from
inside a boat.

But I agree with Chuck about situations: I ALWAYS wear one in a sailing
dinghy, almost never in the 36-ft sailboat (although I do sometimes wear a
harness)

Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36

"OlBlueEyes" wrote in message
...

What affront to the general populace is a driver without a seat belt
causing?

The fact that they are not wearing one does nothing to me, BUT, when they
get in an accident, and splatter their face on the windshield, who do you
think pays for them sitting in an ICU in a coma? Who do you think pays for a
$1500 MRI every 3 days while they are in there? Who do you think pays for
any needed surgeries?

Insurance companies recoup their costs by raising our rates. If they are
uninsured, the hospital recoups by increasing medical costs, and in some
cases, increased taxes.

End result is WE pay for their ignorance.


--
-Netsock

"It's just about going fast...that's all..."
http://home.columbus.rr.com/ckg/

In article .com,
Ed Stasiak wrote:

[...]

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?

When I took people out in my boat, I insisted that kids wear life
preservers unless the parents refused to allow them to. For adults, I
told them where the life preservers were and that its THIER choice to
wear them or not.

--
Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507
Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67
Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L
Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L

On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 15:35:54 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:


How do you feel about seat belt laws?

I don't like them, or helmet laws, for that matter. Don't get me wrong,
I'd wear a seat belt with or without a law. Same with helmets. I wear a
PFD when canoeing, or in my small runabout, but I'm from the school
that every law is a bad law. It's just sometimes, not having the laws is
worse.

Perhaps, that is a bit of an overstatement. I can see laws requiring
children to be protected, seat belts, bicycle helmets, etc. But once we
reach the age of reason, I don't want some nitwit in Washington, or
Trenton, to protect me from myself. That is my responsibility, not theirs.

On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 15:42:44 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:


And no thunder, I don't have a cite for that - I'm trying to find it from
the last time I had this discussion with somebody, but can't locate it - I
will though. :)

Don't bother, I believe you. That is just the way bureaucracies work.
Similar story, my sister is a health care worker. We were discussing
aids. She told me, that if you were gay, an IV drug user, and had
aids, you were put down in the gay grouping, not the IV drug grouping.
Seems to me, that would be a rather large skew. And, I don't have a cite,
don't know if it is still like that, and don't know if it was just in this
state. But that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. ;-)

On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 16:05:33 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

I will be the first to admit that my opinion is strictly based on my own
experiences over 50 some years of owning and operating boats - then again,
sometimes that's all we have to go by.

That's enough. Look, safety devices are great ideas, I'm all for using
them. I just question the law part of it. I'm always amazed when I drive
through Connecticut, how many bikers don't wear helmets. I'm always
thinking dumbass, but it is their life, not mine.

thunder wrote in message
...
On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 16:05:33 +0000, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

I will be the first to admit that my opinion is strictly based on my own
experiences over 50 some years of owning and operating boats - then
again,
sometimes that's all we have to go by.

That's enough. Look, safety devices are great ideas, I'm all for using
them. I just question the law part of it. I'm always amazed when I drive
through Connecticut, how many bikers don't wear helmets. I'm always
thinking dumbass, but it is their life, not mine.



I ride and I personally don't like wearing a helmet. I've heard all the
arguments and statistics from both sides of the fence - that helmets have
little or no effect on motorcycle fatalites to how helmets save thousands of
lives. Either way, I still don't like 'em, but wear one when required. In
MA they are required. Contrary to popular belief, Florida *does* have a
helmet law but you are permitted to ride without one if you carry proof that
you have personal medical insurance.

Eisboch

What affront to the general populace is a driver without a seat belt
causing?


Netsock wrote:
The fact that they are not wearing one does nothing to me, BUT, when they
get in an accident, and splatter their face on the windshield, who do you
think pays for them sitting in an ICU in a coma? Who do you think pays for a
$1500 MRI every 3 days while they are in there? Who do you think pays for
any needed surgeries?

Insurance companies recoup their costs by raising our rates. If they are
uninsured, the hospital recoups by increasing medical costs, and in some
cases, increased taxes.

End result is WE pay for their ignorance.


True enough, and there's a further cost when the emergency team has to
go get them... that's expensive.

And it can be dreadfully expensive to you, personally, if you have an
accident yourself during the time that they're busy rescuing Mr
Self-Inflicted Injury from his folly. You'll just have to wait and if
you don't make it, too bad.

DSK