[Woodsy]

I had ALOT of reading to catch up on! Darn being busy at work! LOL!

The original "COMPROMISE" to HB-847 was the 2 year "Sunset Clause" inserted into the bill to allow the NHMP to collect data on the enforcement of a speed limit from a practical "hands on" point of view. Is the speed limit necessary? How difficult is it to write a ticket? Do they hold up in court? Cost of enforcement? Cost of training? Etc...

WinnFabs has jumped the gun a bit (in poor taste I might add) by attempting to have HB-847 made into permanent law before the second year of data collection even begins. The NHMP would not even get a chance to compile and evaluate the data from this year (summer ‘09) prior to a legislative vote on HB-847! If anything they should have asked for (and been granted) a 1 year extension of the ‘Sunset Clause”. This idea was actually floated by the NHMP.

The problem I have with this is the same problem I had with the first go around…. SHOW ME THE DATA! No hard facts at all yet exist about the pros and cons of HB-847! But here we are debating if HB-847 the same way people debate if ghosts exist or not! No data or hard facts that ghosts exist, yet the debate rages!

In the spirit of compromise I started this thread. I still think a compromise can be worked out, but it will need input from both sides and the NHMP as they are the ones tasked with enforcement. It is really easy to sit back and write a law and task someone else with enforcing it. The problems arise when it comes down to actually enforcing the law.

I do kind of agree with Bear Islander on a couple of things… I think that a compromise can and SHOULD be worked out, and I think that anybody should BE SAFE canoeing or kayaking anywhere on the lake. Notice I said BE SAFE and not FEEL SAFE. There is a huge difference between the two. I think canoeists and kayakers WERE SAFE before the advent of HB-847. The accident statistics for NH prove this. We have no data that suggests even remotely that canoeists and kayakers are any safer now.

If it were up to Camp Directors, (in their perfect world) nobody else would be using the lake at the same time as the children. However that’s not the case. They have to SHARE the lake with everyone else, just like everyone else. The right of the children to be on the lake does not trump the rights of others to be on the lake. It is the job of the Camp Director to insure the safety of the children. I think that a child getting run over by any boat at any speed is a concern (and it very well should be a concern), I would be more concerned about the children in canoes kayaks & sailfish getting swamped or capsized by a huge wake. No child at any Children’s Camp on Lake Winnipesaukee has EVER been run over by a speeding boat! I am sure that swamping and capsizing due to large wakes (and the resultant injuries) is much more common occurrence.

To sum it all up…

I think the NHMP do a great job with the funding they are given. Yet we still see Capt. Bonehead driving every type of boat. Greater funding so that NHMP can mount “fly the flag” patrols in the congested areas more often. Nothing calms the waters like a NHMP boat just sitting there waiting to pounce! More NHMP patrols will mean more Capt. Boneheads stopped for other violations. Noise, 150’ rule etc…. Not too sure of where the funding should come from especially considering power boaters were just hit with an increase. I have a few ideas but they can be saved for another thread.

I think a statewide night time limit is without question a necessity. Night is when most of the serious accidents occur. I think 25 MPH is too slow and it adversely impacted lots of people. People can debate the number till the cows come home but my vote is for 30 MPH… it gives you leeway to 35 or so before you are in any real trouble with the NHMP.

I think a daytime limit is a waste of time… your visibility is measured in MILES! However, in the spirit of compromise my vote would be for a 65 MPH limit. This allows 99% of the boaters to use their boats as they wish. There are a handful of boats that can exceed 65, but no doubt they will limit their activities to the Broads as they do now.

You cannot have different speeds for different places… it becomes an enforcement nightmare for the NHMP. (Boater: I was past the appropriate marker when I was doing 65… NHMP: No you weren’t, from my point of view you were still behind it) It creates a he said-she said with no clearly delineated position. This option was bantered about during the original HB-162 debates and the NHMP was not at all interested.

Noise is an issue, and I think the noise laws should be strictly enforced! (See NHMP Funding above) Captains Call exhaust should be legal as long as you can pass the sound test BOTH ways (loud and quiet)!

Woodsy