Blue by You

There's a NEW BILL in the Virginia house setting a night time speed limit on SML. This action requires a 2/3's majority vote. However IF this get's passed through... it would only require a majority vote to set a day time limit. DAY TIME SPEED LIMIT is there objective. This is supported by the SMLA and other groups who have been trying for years to rid the lake of anyone who doesn't fit their profiling. I'm looking for supporters & people to help. Please copy and paste this post in as many forums as you can find. We need this word to get out. They want to push this through in the cold months while people arn't thinking about boating.

Here's the email to the rep who is supporting this: [email protected]
Here's his personal email: [email protected]

Jim Marsh - PRESIDENT SMLPBA
[email protected]

The original
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp...?071+sum+sb528

and a New one specifically about the speed limits.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp...071+sum+HB2373

Blue by You

Here's the summary:
Speed limits on certain lakes. Establishes a maximum speed limit of 35 miles per hour on Smith Mountain Lake between sunset and sunrise. Anyone who exceeds this limit is subject to a fine of up to $250.

mwdill

good idea ,
thats a good place to start, but sumone that kan spel reel guud kneds 2 du it :
how bout it Jimbo!

Blue by You

Stick to the facts... Speed historically is NOT a problem at SML OR anywhere across the county (USCG Stats below) and it ranked only 4th in the number of accidents and 6th in fatalities as the contributing factor. PLUS speeding is only defined as operating above a safe speed. That could be 10mph. Careless operation, operator inattention & operator Inexperience are 1-2-3. We support education, but if operators are inexperienced & reckless & not paying attention...they're going to cause an issue at any speed.

Plus how is DGIF going to inforce it? Where does a "safe speed" fall if a posted speed is now up? 35MPH at night can be WAY TOO FAST in some conditions...what happens then. How about the speedo's in most boats...are they right most of the time? I think not. Fact is...IF YOU EDUCATE ALL CAPTAINS THEN FOR THE MOST PART, THEY WILL ABIDE BY SAFE BOATING TECHNIQUES.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BOATING STATISTICS - 2004
�� In 2004, States and jurisdictions reported a total of 12,781,476 registered
recreational boats compared to 12,794,616 in 2003. The 4,904 boating accidents
reported in 2004 resulted in 676 fatalities, 3,363 injuries, and $35,038,306 in property
damage.
�� Approximately seventy percent of all fatal boating accident victims drowned
(484 out of 676). Approximately 90 percent of the victims who drowned were not
wearing their personal flotation device (PFD or lifejacket). Overall, fatal accident
data show approximately 431 lives could have been saved last year if boaters had
worn their lifejackets.
�� The most reported type of accident was a collision with another vessel. However,
capsizing and falls overboard are the most reported types of fatal accidents and
accounted for over half (57%) of all boating fatalities. Boat operators need to pay
attention to the capacity label on their boat and be careful not to overload small boats
(less than 16 feet) with passengers and/or gear.
�� Overall, carelessness/reckless operation, operator inattention, operator
inexperience, and excessive speed are the leading contributing factors of all reported
accidents.
�� The most common types of boats involved in reported accidents were open
motorboats (42%), personal watercraft (PWC) (25%) and cabin motorboats (15%).
Increases were observed in the number of reported fatalities involving pontoon boats
(27) and canoes and kayaks (98) from 2003. A decrease was observed in the number
of fatalities involving cabin motorboats (42) from the number of fatalities reported in
2003.
�� The number of reported injuries involving PWC use continued along a downward
trend and has decreased every year since 1996.
�� Fourteen (14) children age 12 and under lost their lives while boating in 2004
compared to 27 children in 2003.
�� Approximately 70% of all reported fatalities occurred on boats where the operator
had not received boating safety instruction.
�� Alcohol was involved in approximately one-third of all boating fatalities in 2004.

If anyone wants huge files of safety information...just email me at [email protected]
Jim Marsh - President SMLPBA

Blue by You

Taken from Hot Boat Web Site...

Lake Anna Civic Association sent their news letter out today. They say that in conjunction with Smith Mountain lake and Lake Gaston civic associations they are working to establish speed limits on the three lakes by working with the department of game and inland fisheries. This effort will require enabling legislation. They are asking the following feedback from their members so they can take names to Va. Legislation to show backing for their bill.
PRESENT SPEED LIMITS being discussed are 55mph during the day and 25mph during the night.
a. I support speed limits as described.
b. I support speed limits but they should be lower?higher than described.
c. I am opposed to establishing speed limits on the lake.

Additionally LACA is investigating the possibility of establishing noise limits on lake Anna in conjunction with the department of game and inland fisheries.
a. I agree with establishing speed limits
b. I am opposed to establishing specific noise limits on the lake.

Lake Anna Civic Association Needs your feed back.

Their address is LACA, PO Box 217 Mineral, Va.23117

The state of La. through this kind of strategy found a way to ban large pleasure boats from all their lakes. The boaters formed together and sued the state to allow the return of large boats. The suit is now in court and the boaters are running their boats until the courts decide.
IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? If you think it wont go this far than don't do anything.
That's how Madeline got religion out of the schools and replaced it with a cop and a gun.
How's that working out?

Kojac

drejustice

KEEP the pressure up!!!!!

RICHMOND -- Members of a House committee decided Wednesday that the way to promote safety on Smith Mountain Lake is through education and not speed limits.

A subcommittee of the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee voted to table a bill to place 35 mph nighttime speed limits on Smith Mountain Lake, all but killing the bill for the year.

Meanwhile, the full committee voted 19-3 during a morning meeting to approve House Bill 1627, which phases in mandatory boating safety courses for motorboat operators by 2016.

The bill now will go to the full Virginia House of Delegates.

Speed limits and mandatory boating classes were both recommended by a water safety task force in 2005 after a summer boating collision killed a Moneta couple.

But with one exception, none of the resulting bills last year were passed by the General Assembly.

HB 1627's sponsor, Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County, said the difference this year was due to hard work by a number of supporters and lake safety advocates who worked to garner support for mandatory boating classes.

The Virginia Safe Boating Alliance, formed last June, has worked to pull boating groups together on the subject.

When Byron started listing the large number of groups that have endorsed HB 1627, one delegate responded by jokingly waving a paper as a white flag of surrender.

"The alliance did a tremendous job in taking the time to come together with their expertise and garner the support," Byron said after the vote.

The same subcommittee that killed the speed limits approved a similar education bill sponsored by Del. Allen Dudley, R-Rocky Mount. It changed his bill, however, to reflect Byron's. Dudley's bill likely will be combined with Byron's on the House floor.

Subcommittee members, however, were more wary of Dudley's HB 2373, which would set nighttime speed limits.

Dudley had introduced a similar bill last year, but it was tabled after officials with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries told subcommittee members they did not run radar on boats and had no data on what proper speed limits should be.

Since then, the Game Department has obtained radar and has trained wardens to use it. And they've gathered a little bit of data. Col. Mike Bise, law enforcement division director for the Game Department, told the subcommittee the average nighttime speed for boats on Smith Mountain Lake was 28.7 mph, which is below Dudley's proposed speed limit.

Subcommittee members also heard support for the speed limit bill from Eric Spencer, whose mother and stepfather were killed in the August 2005 collision on the lake, and Mike Toalson, who's lived on Smith Mountain Lake for 15 years.

Toalson said he owns a powerboat and likes to run it on the lake during the day, but sees the need for limits at night.

"It's time for us to put a speed limit on the lake at night, and at night only," Toalson said.

An official representing the Virginia Association of Marine Industries opposed the bill, however, saying that current regulations allow authorities to prosecute the operation of watercraft at "an unsafe speed" as a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of between $250 and $2,500 and up to a year in jail.

Del. Clarke Hogan, R-Halifax County, agreed and made the motion to table the speed limit bill.

"Earlier today, in conjunction with Del. Dudley's bill that will be part of Del. Byron's bill, we have made a dramatic step forward in boater safety," Hogan said. "And it sounds like they've addressed the problems ... I think that's plenty for a day."

Another mandatory boating education bill, Senate Bill 1241 filed by Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, should reach the floor of the full Senate for consideration today.