Safety, Safety, Safety

[Towdaddy]

There was a 8 year old boy killed on Hardy Lake in Michigan this weekend while riding on a pontoon. My understanding is the boat was rented and that the boy was riding on the front of the boat with his feet hanging in the water while under power. He was pulled in and under the boat and struck by the prop. This is a tragic accident that could have been avoided by observing the basic safety rules.

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.a ... yid=127034

Just thought I would post this as a reminder to everyone to have fun but to be safe while doing it.

[HandymanHerb]

That is sad and didn't have to happen, even if I let the kids ride in the front fishing seats and mine are inside the playpen, I'm not going fast at all, not like I could with all that plowing.

But everybody is in the back for faster travel, never know when you might catch a wave the wrong way and throw them out of the front seats.

Be safe and bring home all the love one's

[dockholiday]

Saw the same thing from my lot about a month ago although there was no injury. About 10 second after I said those idiots a blue light showed up behind them. Don't know if they were ticketed but he kept them a good while. I sure can see why it is against the law. If you fall off the front it is only seconds before the prop hit you.
doc

[toondog]

That is sad. I wonder if the boat rental people went over all the rules and safety stuff. Not that it would protect the ignorant anyway.
It wouldn't be a bad ideal to put prop guards on rentals.

[badmoonrising]

We had a 12 year old girl elected from the bow of a small bow rider last summer, not wearing a PFD. She drowned, unfortunately. This season, there has been a huge crackdown on bow riding and PFD usage by the local PD and the Coast Guard.

[BassFrequency]

what scares the hell out of me on LOTO, is when ya see 10 kids danglin thier feet off the bow rail of a moving sea ray yacht

[HandymanHerb]

Prop guard wouldn't help there, the prop wouldn't get you,
but that big metal point on the engine would do you in.

[ROLAND]

We had a 12 year old girl elected from the bow of a small bow rider last summer, not wearing a PFD. She drowned, unfortunately. This season, there has been a huge crackdown on bow riding and PFD usage by the local PD and the Coast Guard.

Not exactly a "boating tragedy", but just under 2 weeks ago here in shreveport, louisiana we had a tragedy on the red river. 6 teens were playing on a sand bar on the red and playing in shallow water. What they did not know is that just off the sand bar is a 25 to 30 foot drop, and from what I understand one of the teens went under. The rest tried to save him and when all was said and done, 6 teens had drowned. None of them wearing pfd's & none of them knew how to swim. What a tragedy... now here's the kicker... the next weekend saw a news item where some families were out in the same area where the 6 teens drowned. Saw one interview with a woman who said she knew her kids should be wearing life vests, but, and these are her words paraphrased " but we're right here with them ".... WTF.... Any one who can't swim, not wearing a pfd and gets caught up in the river current.... forget about it. I just don't understand how you could let your kids do that, especially in light of what happened the week before on that very same river... go figure.

[oldmn19]

PROVES AGAIN YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!!!! It's so sad that a child has to lose their life because the adults just don't get it!!!!!

[OldePharte]

what scares the hell out of me on LOTO, is when ya see 10 kids danglin thier feet off the bow rail of a moving sea ray yacht

Very much agreed. And none of them have a PFD on or even near by. How they can get by with that, amazes me. I guess some politician will have to lose a child before it gets stopped.

[Bamby]

This was taken from http://www.USCGboating.org

Beware of Boat Propellers…The Hidden Danger

Attention: All Swimmers, Skiers, Tubers, Anglers, Wake Boarders, And Recreational Boaters

Understand the danger of a boat propeller, Did You Know?

A typical three-blade propeller running at 3,200 rpm can inflict 160 impacts in one second.

A typical recreational propeller can travel from head to toe on an average person in less than one tenth of a second.

Most propeller accidents CAN be prevented

What Can You Do?

You can view or continue the rest here: http://blog.pontoonhouseboatodyssey.com ... anger.aspx or attempt to dig it out of the coast guard site posted above. This is a serious safety danger we should all take very seriously and into consideration when even in the proximity of a boat or boat traffic.

[HandymanHerb]

That's why I run a prop guard, the kids love to swim around, under the toon, even not running, the prop can cut you if you hit it.

Besides I wouldn't give up my prop guard even without the kids because of the slow speed handing it gives you, that and in low water you can tilt the engine up and it acts like a jet drive.

Besides it already saved a 9 foot gator and my prop, he would have lived through it my prop wouldn't have, they have a hard head.

[GXPWeasel]

This is soo very sad.
You really have to wonder how someone, an adult none the less, can be so ignorant to not think that if a boat is moving, that the force of the water current will no doubt at some point be stronger than the person/object the force is pulling against. What the Hell did the guy thing would happen if his kid fell off the boat???? To me, if this person has more kids, they should seriously be put under some type of parental review to ensure they are smart enough to have kids.

Like I've told my freinds before, you should be required to have a license to have kids. That would fix a lot of dumbass parents problems, and hell, probably make our society smarter in the long run. Just sad that something like this has to happen at all. We all know that nothing will change in the way of National laws because of this one incident.

[toondog]

Unfortunately ignorant people will continue to do stupid things and even post their stupidity on youtube.

[jimrs]

"We all know that nothing will change in the way of National laws because of this one incident."

I hope they don't change the laws to cover some stupid asses ass.

Thats the problem now we try to have the government control every aspect of our lives. Then we get mad because they have the power. When do people take responsibility for their own actions, plus it's not against the law to be stupid.