Common-sense boating cannot be legislated

On Aug. 11, two more people were added to the list of those killed by a drunken driver in Maine. This time the driver wasn’t behind the wheel of a car or a truck but was speeding around a lake – at night. His 30-foot craft, capable of reaching speeds up to 80 miles per hour, rammed another, smaller boat, slicing it in half. Three days later the bodies of the two victims were found.

The outcry from the public was that nothing like this horrible accident should happen again. Legislators were quick to agree and devised a number of legislative “solutions” to the recent boat fatality problem we seem to have here in Maine.

Rep. Tom Watson of Bath was the first to step forward with a bill proposing a “motorboater safety certificate” bill. The new law would require all motorboaters in Maine to become certified or lose their right to operate in Maine waters. Maine waters include all inland lakes, ponds, rivers and streams and all ocean waters out to three nautical miles.

Sadly, a safety certificate would not have prevented the accident on Long Lake, just as a driver’s license doesn’t prevent drunken driving. Common sense cannot be legislated, and it was a lack of common sense and responsible behavior that caused the tragedy last summer.

Still, proponents of this bill and the other boater safety bills cite the Long Lake accident and the 12 other boating fatalities that happened in Maine last year as proof that a motorboat license should be mandatory. Again, it is very unlikely that a motorboat safety certificate would have saved any of these people. More than half of the boats involved in fatalities had no motors and would not have required the operator to be certified. The other fatalities were for various reasons, mostly small boats capsizing or someone falling overboard into cold water.

A boat safety course is a good idea for anyone going out onto the waters of Maine. You will learn things such as which side of a nun buoy to be on, how much length you should have on your anchor line and what the different lights on a boat mean. Courses in coastal navigation can teach you about tides, dead reckoning and chart-reading. This is useful knowledge for those planning on going out to sea. But does every fisherman on every pond in Maine really need this kind of certification or risk arrest for committing a Class E crime, punishable by up to six months in prison and fines up to $1,000?

Safety courses for almost any outside activity can make sense, especially the inherently dangerous ones. But where does it end? Sea kayaking does not require a license or safety certificate, nor does white-water canoeing, downhill skiing, backpacking, skateboarding or bicycling. These sports can be dangerous even for experts. Should Maine require safety certificates or licenses for every dangerous activity? Quite simply, no. The enforcers of our laws – the state police, the Maine Warden Service and forest rangers – are spread thin already, protecting us from real threats. They hardly need to assume another large burden – checking boating licenses for the tens of thousands of powerboats registered in Maine.

Boating is part of Maine’s heritage, of course. Maine people have been enjoying powerboating for generations, without a state-mandated motorboat driver’s license. As with any outdoor activity, there are hazards, but almost all boating accidents can be prevented by a few very basic precautions.

First, don’t drive drunk. A drunken driver, whether on the road or on the water, is a true hazard to himself and others. Second, watch the weather. Ocean squalls and sea fog can materialize in minutes, and sudden thunderstorms can rampage across lakes, leaving you completely at the mercy of nature. Third, and perhaps most important, use common sense.

Maine’s legislative time is valuable. Maine people continue to labor under a staggering tax burden, a fearful business environment and some of the highest health insurance premiums in the country. Wouldn’t the residents of our state be better off if the Legislature faced these real problems instead of devising burdensome, ineffectual and misdirected regulations to deal with the rare instances of irresponsible boating behavior?

Rep. Jon McKane, R-Newcastle, is an electrical contractor.