boat drivers license

[Floating Carter]

Re: boat drivers license

exactly...safety should be the #1 goal here<br /> maybe the license isn't the way to do it, but many people would not bother trying to learn ANYTHING about boater safety if there is nothing pushing them to do so.<br /> I'm currently teaching my next generation how to operate safely but if things keep going the way they are I don't think that will be enough to keep them relatively safe on the water<br /><br />Lisa

 

[18rabbit]

Re: boat drivers license

The solution for safety is simple but won’t be the potential cash cow necessary for a politician to base a re-election campaign on. And it won’t create any bureaucracy at all. It’s based on a law we have in California; if you get popped for a moving violation inside a school zone or a hiway construction zone, the fine is doubled.<br /><br />For boating, enforce the laws that are already in place. They are adequate to ensure safe boating for everyone. If you get cited, the cost of the fine is doubled or tripled if you cannot provide proof of successfully completing a USCG Aux or USPS boating safety coarse. If you have your certificate, you pay the original fine. If you don’t, you pay double or triple the fine. Each successive citation for the same offense would be double the previous citation. If you get cited for not having a pfd and you don’t have a boating safety certificate, you pay 2x or 3x the fine. Get cited for not having a pfd a second time and you still don’t have that safety course certificate, you pay 4 or 6 times the fine. A statement of this policy should be required to accompany every new watercraft sold.

 

[levittownnick]

Re: boat drivers license

Good post 18rabbit, I like the idea of enforcing the existing laws. I think I would leave out the certificate portion and let the person gain the knowledge any way they choose. If they choose to be an idiot, they will pay.

 

[DJ]

Re: boat drivers license

Doesn’t matter if you like the idea or not, a boating license is coming to a neighborhood near you. And it will be tied to your nat’l ID…in other words, your driver’s license. It will have absolutely nothing to do with boating safety.<br />

I agree completely, especially with the last sentence.<br /><br />I would support it only if:<br /><br />1. A comprehensive test is passed.<br /><br />2. Or, the the completion of a comprehensive boating course.<br /><br />If there is enough demand, private enterprise can handle the training and testing. What a concept.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: boat drivers license

Just found this:<br /><br />Any person convicted of any moving violation in the Harbors and Navigation Code, the Federal Rules of the Road and regulations adopted by the California Department of Boating and Waterways while operating a vessel must be ordered by the court to complete and pass a boating safety course approved by the Department of Boating and Waterways.<br />Proof of completion and passage of the course must be submitted to the court within seven months of the time of the conviction.<br /><br />Personally, I'd like to see an increase in the fine if the person cited hasn't completed a boating safety course PRIOR to the citation.

 

[levittownnick]

Re: boat drivers license

Maby we should add a salt water fishing license, swimming license, breathing license, etc.

 

[phantoms]

Re: boat drivers license

Where I live a Fishing License is required for fishing in fresh or salt water. Another way to make a buck off us.

 

[Wimperdink]

Re: boat drivers license

I vote we do away with fishing license and replace it with boating license... which is the bigger safety issue? I also say anyone born after 1901 that rides a jet flea be required to have one... three strikes your out.. no more jet flea for idgets.. a mercy and a blessing

 

[aspeck]

Re: boat drivers license

My nephew wanted to operate a PWC and went on line to take a course. After watching him, I saw were it would be easy to search the net for the cheapest and easiest test to take, since it seems each state will accept another's license.<br /><br />Kind of takes the reason for the test away from the test, don't it? Stupid gobermint waste and intrusion.