Proposed legislation to change Boater Safety Education Req

[mwardncsu]

There is a bill before the VA Legislature this session that would exempt VA residents born before July 1, 1972 from the requirement to have taken & passed the Boater Safety course. This is just nonsense to exempt older individuals due to age. As you will see below, the stats show that 2/3's of the fatalities in 2014 were caused by individuals over the age of 45.

The Chamber of Commerce has gotten involved with this as the legislation also proposed to change the requirements regarding the rules for rental boat companies - originally drafted as requiring anyone renting to have to have passed the full course - seems like a reasonable thing to me but the Chamber's concern is regarding the economic impact to the marias and surrounding businesses.... I'm not going to comment on that side of it however, if legislation is drafted to "protect" the waterways against individuals renting boats without the full coursework, then why loosen the rules on the other side for older VA residents - my guess is some legislators or their backers don't want to have to take the time to sit down and take the course to ensure they know the rules.... just nonsense.

This is going on real-time - it has already been to committee and it appears that perhaps the changes related to the rental requirements have been modified - but the age-out item still stands. This can directly affect the safety of our waters at SML, so if you have an opinion on this, then you need to make it heard ASAP.

You can follow the latest status here: leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?ses=151&typ=bil&val=sb996


Below is a copy of the letter I sent via e-mail to the committee involved - feel free to leverage as much of it as you wish to make your voice hear....


Emmett Hanger (Chair) - [e-mail]
John Watkins – [e-mail]
Frank Ruff – [e-mail]
Mark Obenshain – [e-mail]
Donald McEachin – [e-mail]
Chap Petersen – [e-mail]
Richard Stuart – [e-mail]
Dave Marsden – [e-mail]
William Stanley – [e-mail]
Richard Black – [e-mail]
John Miller – [e-mail]
Adam Ebbin– [e-mail]
Lynwood Lewis – [e-mail]
Ben Chafin – [e-mail]


----------------------


I was recently made aware that the Virginia General Assembly is considering a change to EXISTING boating safety legislation that threatens to undermine the positive trends we have seen in terms of boating accidents since the Boating Safety Education training requirements first came into effect in 2009. The boating safety education compliance requirement will be fully phased-in on July 1, 2016. As of July 1, 2014, all operators of personal watercraft (e.g., jet skis) and motorboat operators 45 years old and younger must complete a boating safety course. Beginning July 1, 2015, motorboat operators ages 50 and younger and all personal watercraft operators must complete the boating safety course.

SB 996 (Stuart) would exempt motorboat operators born prior to July 1, 1972 (age 43 and older), and who are residents of Virginia, from having to demonstrate compliance with boating safety education requirements before operating a motorboat.
There is no justification for exempting older operators from the boating safety education requirements. According to DGIF statistics, in 2014, 10 of the 15 fatalities (2/3) were caused by operators over 45 years old.
No one is immune from mishaps and operators of all ages and experience levels can benefit from FREE boating safety education.
While I fall into the category that would be made exempt, as a property owner on Smith Mountain Lake, and someone who spends over 100 days a year on the water, it is unacceptable to me that the Legislature would be considering a change to standing regulation that exempts boaters of a specific age - especially when the statistics show that older boater contributed to a larger share of fatalities than their younger counterparts. There is no age-out requirement to have proper training & license to operate a motor vehicle on the State's motorways, and safety is of upmost importance on our motorways - and we must ensure that the same is in place for our waterways.

I strongly urge you to reject the proposed bill and leave the Boater Safety Education requirements in place as stands today regarding age limits.

Sincerely
Michael Ward

[Brian]

I agree with everything you said and sent an email using most of your language.

Also, You have a space in Frank Ruff's address which I believe is a typo.

I believe the bill will fail anyway because in politics, money is more important than public safety and I believe that the rented boat exception was/is the result of some pretty hefty bribes, er, I mean campaign contributions. Perhaps the age exemption proposal is an offset to pander to a big voting block in order to mitigate the damage of backstabbing big donors.

Sorry to get all soap-boxy

[mwardncsu]

yep - get rid of that space - the list I pulled them from had spaces in several - thought I had got them all - I'll fix the original post....

[Deleted]

Though I'm not nearly as old as mward looks     ....  I totally agree....  everyone should have to take the safety course, regardless of age...

[Deleted]

I agree in principle. However, driving a boat is much more difficult than a car and just as dangerous. Memorizing some rules for a test does not seem a very effective means for making our water safer. Might help a bit?

If we are going to do it... Do it right! I am a fan of boat driving school. Or at least some type of basic skill tests. For example, dock parking, navigation course using red and green bouys, using a fire extinguisher, rescuing a man overboard, etc.

[CorneliaGale]

When I was helping teach the classes, many people young and old came up to us and told the instructors that they had found out a lot of information in the classes that they did not know. The class is a very basic class to learn everything you need to know about operating a vessel. If you boat on SML very much you will see why it is needed, let us hope they don't get it changed.

[BentRod]

Feb 13, 2015 17:45:47 GMT -5 Yam said:

I agree in principle. However, driving a boat is much more difficult than a car and just as dangerous. Memorizing some rules for a test does not seem a very effective means for making our water safer. Might help a bit?

If we are going to do it... Do it right! I am a fan of boat driving school. Or at least some type of basic skill tests. For example, dock parking, navigation course using red and green bouys, using a fire extinguisher, rescuing a man overboard, etc.

Yeah I think "real life" skills testing is much better - you can cheat on the online exams - it's honestly a joke - better than nothing - but I doubt 95% of people remember more than 10% of it 6months later. I wouldn't get rid of it though either - make it harder is what I'm saying.

[FishON]

The boater safety course is a joke. You might as well just get rid of the whole thing. I took the online course. What a waste of time. I wonder how many millions of dollars it took to make that course? I am sure there were a few guys that got rich as well, making that BS.

[CorneliaGale]

On some cold day or night when you don't have anything else to do, here is a website you can go to and take a test on rules of the road and see what you know and don't know. it grades you as you go, good way to learn and pass some time.

www.raynorshyn.com/NavRules/Default.asp

[striperjohn]

Yes many of us think the course is boring etc, because we've owned boats long enough to know the rules. Or think we do. I for one think the course is good for one thing, to make the idiots that rent/or have just bought their first boat, to think about what the hell they're doing on the water.
I, as I'm sure we all, have seen some absolutely ridiculous crap that people do on the water, particularly on SML.
Corneliagale, if the Coast Guard truly wanted to do something to make it better, enforcement, enforcement, enforcement. Which I know leads to $$$.
I'm not talking about just pleasure craft that do stupid things. I've seen fully rigged striper guides/and others, with a spread that covers and entire creek opening turn out to cross the main channel. WTF? We all have those stories, but none of them end with the person getting a ticket for rules violations. The course is a good starter. Okay I just stepped off the soapbox as well.

[smlmike]

I hope not to offend anyone. But if anyone needs to be tested on the water or on the road on a regular basis is older folks. Not going to put an age on it. But I see a lot of scary things happen when following elderly drivers on the road. Boats are a much more of a difficult animal to drive. People should be required to pass a legitimate written boat and driver (car) test on a 5 to 10 year basis. After age 60? They must re take the behind the wheel portion for vehicles. My two cents!

[Deleted]

Feb 14, 2015 9:32:32 GMT -5 smlmike said:

I hope not to offend anyone. But if anyone needs to be tested on the water or on the road on a regular basis is older folks.  My two cents!

 hell, why not just go ahead and shoot us and put us out of our misery.   lol.....

seriously though, doesn't matter what kind of requirements or tests you have to drive a boat (or a car)... you can't fix stupid..... and it doesn't have an age limit on it......

[mwardncsu]

Info via the SML Chamber of Commerce... If you feel compelled to comment - you must do so by this coming Tueaday AM.


The Virginia Senate approved the boating safety bill (SB 996) on Feb. 5 by a vote of 21-16. The legislation makes only one significant change – it exempts Va. residents born prior to July 1, 1972 from the state’s boater safety education requirement. It is simply an age exemption with no prior boating experience necessary.

The Senate-passed bill will next be considered in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee this Tuesday afternoon. There are only seven members of the Subcommittee so we need four “no” votes to kill it.

It would be helpful if as many Chamber members as possible would send emails to the six Delegates listed below in opposition to the bill. The seventh member is supporting it. To make it easy, you may cut and paste our message of opposition or feel free to write your own.

Again, if you want to help, please do so no later than Tuesday morning.

Message

Please oppose SB 996, boating safety legislation. The current boating safety education requirements are working well and should not be weakened. Virginia boating accidents, injuries and fatalities have significantly declined since the boating safety education requirements began in 2009. There is no reason to exempt boat operators born before July 1, 1972 from taking this training. In fact, according to DGIF statistics, two-thirds of the 2014 fatalities that occurred on Virginia waterways were caused by operators over 45 years old.

Delegate Emails
Chairman James Edmunds (R): [e-mail]

Delegate Tommy Wright (R): [e-mail]

Delegate Matt Fariss (R): [e-mail]

Delegate Jackson Miller (R): [e-mail]

Delegate Ken Plum (D): [e-mail]

Delegate Richard Sullivan (D): [e-mail]


Barb Nocera
Special Projects Manager
Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce
(O): 540-721-1203; (C): 919-534-5254

[CorneliaGale]

Feb 14, 2015 8:01:50 GMT -5 striperjohn said:

Yes many of us think the course is boring etc, because we've owned boats long enough to know the rules. Or think we do. I for one think the course is good for one thing, to make the idiots that rent/or have just bought their first boat, to think about what the hell they're doing on the water.
I, as I'm sure we all, have seen some absolutely ridiculous crap that people do on the water, particularly on SML.
Corneliagale, if the Coast Guard truly wanted to do something to make it better, enforcement, enforcement, enforcement. Which I know leads to $$$.
I'm not talking about just pleasure craft that do stupid things. I've seen fully rigged striper guides/and others, with a spread that covers and entire creek opening turn out to cross the main channel. WTF? We all have those stories, but none of them end with the person getting a ticket for rules violations. The course is a good starter. Okay I just stepped off the soapbox as well.

Biggest problem with enforcement on the lake is the size, 20,000 acres, DGIF and the USCG don't have resources to put enough people to cover it. I agree the boating classes are not enough, but they are a start, shame that is all a lot of people will ever do, they don't know the rules of the road exist. There was at one time thoughts about requiring people to have a copy of the rules on board. It didn't pass. We used to teach a 13 week course, can't get enough people to commit to do it any more, I took it years ago, a lot more information than the 6 hour class.

[mwardncsu]

Realtime update via the SML Chamber of Commerce.....

This morning the Virginia House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee approved an amended version of the boating safety bill, SB 996, on a 12-10 vote. We need to quickly determine whether the amended version addresses our concerns. The language of the new exemption is, "Was born prior to July 1, 1972, is a resident of Virginia, and is not operating the motorboat on inland waters west of Interstate 95." (see copy attached) This means that the age exemption would not apply at Smith Mountain Lake, Lake Anna, Kerr Reservoir, Lake Gaston, and other lakes west of I-95. Clearly, those of you who sent emails to the legislators had a real impact!

Here's the Committee vote:

YEAS--Scott, Ware, Knight, Edmunds, Wilt, Morefield, Webert, Ransone, Fariss, Miller, Bloxom, Keam--12.
NAYS--Wright, Orrock, Marshall, D.W., Poindexter, Plum, Bulova, James, Torian, Lopez, Sullivan--10.

If you have further comment, please send an email to the legislators ASAP this evening.....