Lake Martin Topics: New Idle Speed Proposed Law

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	Name:	MartiniMan -
	Subject:	New Idle Speed Proposed Law
	Date:	4/21/2008 8:54:03 PM

This is an overview of what they are proposing:

The Marine Police proposal, dubbed the “One-Hundred-Foot Restriction,” would make it illegal to run any watercraft faster than idle speed within 100 feet of any other vessel that is moored, anchored or adrift, any wharf, dock, pier, piling, bridge structure or abutment, any person in the water or any shoreline adjacent to a residence, public park, public beach, public swimming area, marina, restaurant or other public-use area. The offense is punishable as a class C misdemeanor and carries a minimum fine of $50.

Think about it, any boat that is moored, anhcored or adrift would require idle speed within 100 feet. So its not just boats at the dock or the pier. What it does is to leave it to the judgment of the Marine Police whether you came too close to a boat anchored in the middle. Can any of you easily judge 100'? This creates a right for anyone who wants to anchor their boat anywhere to dictate to all the other boaters what spped they will go. To me it seems overly restrictive and unenforcable. If hit with a fine I would dispute the distance calculation of the Marine Police and they would have to prove with some form of measurement device that operated in real time that you came within 100'. This is just plain stupid and will never stand up in court (if you wanted to fight over the fine).

And for those who are concerned about the waves from boats damaging boats in the dock, this will not help in the least. Waves do not attenuate in amplitude very much over 100'. For example, we were skiing in an open area of the lake and two boats tied together in the middle waved us over and asked us to move on because our wake was disturbing them. We never got close to them but after several turns in the area there were a lot of waves. We did so out of courtesy but frankly it galled me that they had the nerve to anchor up in the middle of the lake and then ask us to move on. This law will now allow me to say that I can do what I want as long as I stay 100' away. It is only going to legalize bad behaviour when common courtesy should rule the day.

Pretty soon you will hear people clamoring for 200' or 300' (or even worse suggestions like electric-only days). What I believe is happening is there is a vocal minority who constantly badger the Marine Police. As I said in earlier posts I now come into our slough at idle speed because of complaints from a neighbor. I am guessing that with this new law I will now legally be able to blow into his portion of the slough as fast as I want. I won't, but I will be legally able to. My point is that a new law is not the solution.