In my opinion there are a couple of factors that helped determine the 150 ft rule.
Reaction time:
A boat traveling at 20 MPH will cover 1760 ft in one minute, leaving only 5.1 sec to avoid an object or person 150 ft away. A boat traveling 6 MPH has 17 sec to avoid an object or person 150 ft away.
Damage due to wake:
You are responsible for any damage caused by your wake. However, since different boats produce different size wakes at different speeds, I don't know how anyone could say that 150' or any other distance is the point where the wake would not cause damage.
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