I thought it was CG regulation to have a red flag raised anytime you have someone in the water to alert other traffic. There is a serious lack of that in my area. I went up to Okoboji a couple of yrs ago & the cops were pulling people over everywhere for that but they still did it. Along with pulling skiers with jetskis & no observers. Prayers to the people involved, sad. Randy

All areas in the US have inexperienced operators putting us all in danger. I have 3 types of boats and take them all very seriously and follow OSO for news and information. What percent of the weekend yahoos do any of that? They just gas up, drink up and go, putting us all at risk.

IMO there needs to be formal boat driver licensing as with cars. Same consequences and fines or jail if applicable. All boaters need to learn the rules of the road and why they exist. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to just cruise around in the Fountain on a busy weekend around here. As said above I need to steer wide or slow down before I pass any lice, and also for most small runabouts due to no one EVER looking behind as we do in cars before making a sudden turn. How hard is it to swing your head around and check if clear before doing a Bat turn?

A preventable accident.

+ 1

I agree! I got on a tube years ago behind my friends Jet Ski. He literally almost hurt me very seriously! Because those things can turn on a dime, it's extremely dangerous. I can't imagine putting a child behind one!

I was out on the Cass Lake sandbar (literally right across the road from Sylvan Lake) when this happened. We actually heard the sirens but didnt know what had happened until we saw the news that evening.

I just made the comment Sunday that sooner or later someone was going to get hurt. This was as I watched some idiot pulling his kids down the middle of the lake on a tube, busiest part of the day and right through boat traffic. I watched one of the kids fall off and bob in the water btwn a bunch of boats flying past.

I NEVER take people out tubing on these small inland lakes unless its early or late in the day. Or we wait for a cloudy/ slow day and head out. Way too many idiots that have the $$$ but not the brains to run their boats around here. I was getting gas last year and the guy next to me on a high dollar pontoon didnt even know how to put fuel in his boat.



Anyways, very sad for both the family of the victims, and the boater that hit them. All involved have to live with this tragedy.

I'm sure everyone is looking for a solution to prevent such a horrible accident, but licenses won't do it. We have licenses for cars. Do people run over others with their cars? Yes. They run over bicyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists, and passengers in other cars. A license does not require an IQ test. Once people get a license, they never get retested, unless they rack up too many tickets. I haven't had a test in perhaps decades. The only case where a license might help would be if it was very rigorous, 90% of the people failed their test, licensed people were retested every year, and drivers were checked for licenses repeatedly. That's never going to happen.

Michael

I disagree. Licenses can be taken away. If during a license check you are found without one, you get taken away.

Many Texas lakes now have "no refusal weekends" where if you refuse the on-site breathalyzer you are taken in for a blood test by order of the local judge. People complain about loss of freedom etc. but this has been made necessary by the large number of primarily alcohol related boating accidents. There has been a huge improvement in safety and reduction in alcohol related and reckless boating accidents. They frequently post signs warning of the "no refusal weekend" coming up and even the non drinkers drive better to avoid being stopped for life jacket counts, etc. Google search for Lake Conroe No Refusal will pull up articles and statistics.

100% agree on licencing...

Licensing and courses. I don't think it is too much to ask a person to take a refresher course and license renewal test every 5 years. Like I said previously if taking a course or test is too much inconvienence to you, than you do not deserve the privlege to operate a boat. It is a privlege not a right.