OCEAN CITY — On the eve of Memorial Day weekend, federal, state and local officials were on hand in Ocean City on Wednesday to launch a new “Ride Inside” public safety campaign on the dangers of bow-riding.
In the wake of several serious boating accidents in the resort last summer, including a fatal propeller strike that claimed the life of a child in August, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and its law enforcement arm the Natural Resources Police (NRP) and the U.S. Coast Guard have partnered on an aggressive public awareness campaign promoting boating safety and the dangers of bow-riding, or riding on the front of a vessel outside the passenger areas with one’s legs dangling over the water.
Almost immediately after the tragic fatality in Ocean City last summer when a nine-year-old boy who was riding on the bow of a rented pontoon boat fell off the front of the vessel and was swept under it and into the path of the propeller, state officials and the area’s representatives in Annapolis began exploring ways to prevent similar bow-riding accidents in the future. Currently, bow-riding falls under the larger umbrella of reckless or negligent operation, but the DNR and its Boat Act Advisory Committee along with Delegate Mary Beth Carozza and Senator Jim Mathias began exploring ways to regulate bow-riding as its own offense.
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It should not be a regulated offense - rather covered by negligence after the fact...
ReplyDeleteGet the government out of our lives - if stupid people want to kill themselves - let them!
Social Darwinism is not good for publicity so we need to protect stupid people from themselves.
ReplyDeleteIt ceases to amaze me the lack of cause and effect many people have: crossing Coastal Hwy. outside of crosswalks, swimming after lifeguards are off duty, bow riding, diving into shallow water, etc.
Easy solution: Don't rent boats to people that have no experience or training as a boat operator.
ReplyDeleteGot any idea how many THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of people have ridden on the bow and never got hurt?
ReplyDeleteWHEN will the Nazi's STOP trying to fix every part of human behavior they don't like? With FINES, of course.
I don't need a stranger telling me ANYTHING about how to run my life or use any machine that I've bought, any gun I own, or anything else, actually.
If you are too uncoordinated or afraid to do what many others have done with no problem, live with your weak ineptness and take up Scrabble or something. Just quit trying to tell everyone else that because YOU don't like certain actions, NO ONE should be able to do it.
Like those arrogant atheists, who don't believe in God and want to make sure no one else does either, these know-it-all "leaders" want everyone to think and act just like them. Exactly like them.