Bill would require training for boaters

AUGUSTA – On an August night, tragedy unfolded on southern Maine’s Long Lake: A boat more than 30 feet in length and equipped with twin 435-horsepower engines plowed into a 14-foot boat, slicing it in two and killing both of its occupants.

Two days later, state Rep. Thom Watson decided to submit legislation requiring powerboaters to take safety courses. The Long Lake crash wasn’t the only thing that pushed Watson to act, but “it added quite a bit of momentum,” the Bath Democrat said Saturday.

His bill and another one filed in response to the Aug. 11 crash will go before the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee on Tuesday afternoon.

Watson’s bill, which is expected to encounter opposition from the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, would require motorboat operators to take safety courses or pass a safety rules exam, putting Maine among the 38 states that have similar requirements, according to the sponsor.

The measure would be phased in by age groups, starting with the youngest, over eight years to give boaters ample time to comply. It would exempt operators who already have completed certified courses, including commercial skippers and private owners. Also exempted would be those who are renting boats.

The law would not address nonmotorized vessels. As for personal watercraft, a 2006 law bars 16- and 17-years-olds from operating them unless they’re accompanied by someone at least 18 or they’ve completed a boater safety course. Youths under 16 may not operate them at all.

Follow-up legislation set up a task force that recommended expanding the safety course requirement to powerboaters. But Watson said it was the Aug. 11 accident that motivated him to submit his bill.

On that night, Terry Raye Trott, 55, of Naples and Suzanne Groetzinger, 44, of Berwick had gone out in their small boat to observe a meteor shower when the high-powered boat capable of 80 mph speeds struck their craft.

The operator, Robert LaPointe Jr. of Medway, Mass., has been indicted on charges of manslaughter and operating under the influence in connection with the collision. Watson said he did not know if LaPointe had taken any safety course, but if he had been from neighboring New Hampshire, which has such a requirement, he would likely have been trained.

New Hampshire boaters, with some age exemptions, must pass a boater safety examination to earn a license to operate a craft with at least a 25-horsepower motor. In 2006, amid worries of cheating, lawmakers adopted a law ending online testing for boating licenses.

Prospective New Hampshire motorboaters still can take approved online boater safety courses, but must take a monitored examination and pass with a minimum grade of 80 percent to earn a license. The law took effect last year.

In Maine, Watson said accident figures also prompted his decision to seek mandatory safety courses. He said Maine ranks highest among the New England states for fatalities in recreational boating accidents, while it’s only ranked second among the New England states for the number of registered boats.

On average, 80 percent of recreational boat operators involved in accidents had never taken a boating safety educational course, Watson said, citing National Transportation Safety Board figures. Ten people on average die in boating accidents on Maine waters each year, but last year at least 15 lost their lives in Maine recreational boating accidents, he said.

While Watson counts on support from the Coast Guard and its auxiliary, U.S. Power Squadrons, the NTSB and Maine agencies that oversee boating safety, he can also expect opposition from the 14,000-member SAM, whose executive director calls the bill “an added expense, burdensome and unnecessary.”

“It’s also a barrier to getting people outdoors” at a time state officials are encouraging Mainers to engage in outdoor activity, said the sportsman’s alliance’s George Smith. “I travel the state, and there’s not a lot of people clamoring to have mandatory safety courses,” he said.

Smith also questioned why the task force bypassed a plan to make more boaters use the most effective lifesaver: life jackets.

A separate bill prompted by the August crash seeks to limit boat motors to 500 horsepower or less on Long Lake and nearby Brandy Pond in Cumberland County.