Distracted driving on the water

GP_RZ said:
This is pretty insane that a 73 yr old was to busy on his cell phone to look where he was going on the water, close call.

http://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoo...o-avoid-oncoming-motorboat-sues-helmsman.html
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Time to pull the old mans license.

"Larsen told The Oregonian the accusation against him was “fake news.” He pleaded not guilty to the charges and said the lawsuit was unnecessary because no one was seriously hurt. His son-in-law, who was also on the boat at the time of the accident, told investigators he warned Larsen to pay attention and that he’d been using his cellphone off and on all morning."

EDIT: Video for those that don't want to follow the link

[video=youtube_share;agWmkZYu31Q]https://youtu.be/agWmkZYu31Q[/video]
 
But Larsen denies the allegations and told investigators he couldn’t see over the dash of his boat because he was sitting down.
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So this guy admits that he operates a vehicle in a dangerous manner? Extremely reckless.
 
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That "fake news" quip...
 
That was so laugh inducing, I thought I was reading cnn
 
Larsen denies the allegations and told investigators he couldn’t see over the dash of his boat because he was sitting down. The 75-year-old uses a motorized scooter when he’s on land.
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ummm...should you be driving if you can't see where you are going????? :confused:
 
daught said:
So this guy admits that he operates a vehicle in a dangerous manner? Extremely reckless.
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"
But Larsen denies the allegations and told investigators he couldn’t see over the dash of his boat because he was sitting down."

How about SUV's where the drivers have to stretch their necks to see over the dash?
 
Boater guy will still get dinged , especially if he couldn't see over the dash, on the water there is this over riding law called the ColRegs. Short for collision regulations, its a maritime law that over rides everything else. Clearly states any vessel moving must maintain a watch, meaning somebody has to be a lookout.

These types of accidents in boats are more common than you'd think.
 
I like how the Ontario government and MADD have been showing impaired boating commercials over the last month. I can hardly wait for late April when they start showing their impaired snowmobiling commercials.
 
Out of that giant body of water, he had to hit the one boat sitting there that should have been seen in the distance at least 30 seconds before impact...
 
I spent a lot of time every summer at the helm of this little critter.

boat1.jpg

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Yes, on any boat, under certain speeds and/or trim conditions the bow can raise up to a point where visibility can be difficult. Hell, on some boats the manufacturer seemed to go out of their way to make visibility suck from the helm due to it's location, or seating position.

But, you do what you need to do to see properly. Often when we are travelling at high speeds I'll stand at the controls to increase visibility, and at lower cruising speeds good spatial awareness means you don't lose track of what's out there ahead of you, even if you do have a little bit of limited visibility at the helm.
 
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Then again 2 US warships plowed into other ships recently...IIRC the captains got in trouble. USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald.
 
Riceburner said:
Then again 2 US warships plowed into other ships recently...IIRC the captains got in trouble. USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald.
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Indeed. Read the story that came out a day or three ago about that. Scary, honestly - almost as if 90% of the people on the bridge at the time of the collisions really had no idea on how to actually operate the ship.
 
Its staggering how much stuff 'professional' mariners run into. Watched the Oakville water rescue boat bounce off three docked boats while they tried to make a 3 point turn in the harbor in 0 current and 0 wind. Its like mall cops with a boat over there.
 
A lawn chair, a cooler full of cold beverages, and a boat launch is a recipe for a full day of entertainment.
 
crankcall said:
Its staggering how much stuff 'professional' mariners run into. Watched the Oakville water rescue boat bounce off three docked boats while they tried to make a 3 point turn in the harbor in 0 current and 0 wind. Its like mall cops with a boat over there.
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A friend with a boat on simcoe was rafted up with other boats. Police boat came up (with uniformed officers in it) and crashed into the stationary boats causing a few thousand in damage. Police then took off. A complaint was filed, but after a thorough investigation it was determined something along the lines of "there was no police boat in the area at the time so the complaint is closed with no action or liability for the police"
 
Riceburner said:
Then again 2 US warships plowed into other ships recently...IIRC the captains got in trouble. USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald.
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They were discussing it on the US news and the charges are the most severe ever laid. There were fatalities in both cases.

The Canadian Coast Guard sank a commercial fishing boat on Lake Erie a number of years ago punching a hole on the port side of the fishing boat. Starboard boat has the right of way so CCG was wrong.
 
My Father-in-law was an officer (navigator) on a Canadian aircraft carrier the yr they 'parked' it on a beach near Maine. Want to see an expensive tow bill? try getting a loaded aircraft carrier off a beach, and trying to do it secretly.
 
crankcall said:
My Father-in-law was an officer (navigator) on a Canadian aircraft carrier the yr they 'parked' it on a beach near Maine. Want to see an expensive tow bill? try getting a loaded aircraft carrier off a beach, and trying to do it secretly.
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If you can't hide it show it off. Free airplane rides and hot dogs for the kiddies.
 
nobbie48 said:
The Canadian Coast Guard sank a commercial fishing boat on Lake Erie a number of years ago punching a hole on the port side of the fishing boat. Starboard boat has the right of way so CCG was wrong.
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Yes, and no. The regs also say "A power-driven vessel underway shall keep out of the way of a vessel restricted in her ability to manoeuvre", amongst others. In other words, an aluminum fishing boat can't just blindly cross paths with a cruise ship and figure they're in the right of way just because they're crossing from the cruise ships starboard side.

The same argument could be used for a small fishing vessel vs a large coast guard ship.

This was the incident you are talking about I presume. Most of the blame lies on the CG ship, for sure, but the fishing vessel didn't get off with a clean report in their actions either.
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