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Originally Posted by Islander
I never thought of BWI in connection with a canoe.
BWI pertains to the operator. If three people are in a canoe who is the operator?
I guess if you are being stopped you hand the paddle to the sober person in the canoe.
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You raise some very important and obvious points that make it very hard if not impossible for a court to accept the fact that a boating (or driving...if land based) while intoxicated charge applies to a non-motorized vessel or vehicle.
While the definition of boat under this particular statute could encompass a canoe or kayak, proving who the operator is (unless the poor sap was alone) will be mighty interesting. Also, a good defense attorney is going to challenge the legislative intent of the law and argue that the enhanced penalties and automatic driver's license suspension were intended for mechanized vehicles or vessels.
Not too long ago a bicyclist in the southern tier of the State was arrested for DWI on his bicycle. If I remember correctly some argued here that under the law a bicycle was a car, even though much of the motor vehicle code cannot be applied to a bicycle just by it's (the bicycle's) inherent design and operation.
Many of us out in the field were watching the case with great interest, wondering if it would end up in Superior or Supreme Court with a definitive answer. However, as the case wound along the prosecutors decided that most likely a conviction would not withstand appeal and therefore plea bargained the issue, hence no DWI conviction or subsequent case law.
It would have been a very interesting case!