Quote:
Originally Posted by Mako
Scott, aren't you usually short on volunteer instructors? And would it make any sense to only allow somebody to license a boat if they have a boating license?
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I'll get to instructors in a minute...
With all due respect, it may sounds like it makes sense at first, but allow me to try to explain why it doesn't make sense to me:
Remember, you don't "license" a boat, you "register" it. Sounds like semantics, but there is a legal difference. In your scenario, having a licensed, or educated (I favor education over licensing), boat owner only means that that one person is "licensed" to operate the boat.
That does nothing to ensure that any other operator knows what they are doing. Spouse, child, nephew, the drunk uncle nobody likes, etc. None of them would have to know what they are doing to operate the boat?
That would be like only requiring the head of the household to be the licensed driver for the family car. The rest of the family and friends can drive without a license as long as the guy who went to the courthouse to register it had a drivers license?
Requiring proof of boating safety education at time of registering your motorboat sounds like a good idea at first, but it does very little to ensure that they people that are actually
operating the boats are educated/safer.
We can always use more volunteers, but I don't see that as a major hurdle. The use of online study guides (NOT online testing) would greatly help, and the increased demand an expanded age group would offer should motivate IT to get such materials online, and quite frankly, help pay for it.
I would be one of the first to agree that yes, we are greatly understaffed--three boat cops to cover the entire state of Nebraska. But, the benefits of increasing boating education are well worth the increased workload, and will, in the long run,
decrease our workload in terms of accident reporting, fewer violations to deal with, etc.
Thanks for the discussion! I thought I was the only one who cared about such issues!
-Still on my own time on sick leave (yes, really, not a fun week at our home).