It has come to my attention that a meeting was held without public notification concerning the proposed 30-mph weekend watercraft speed limit on Barnegate Bay in New Jersey. At this meeting a board was chosen, consisting of 7 members 5 of which were picked at that meeting, leaving 2 spots open to be picked at the next meeting scheduled for Nov. 6, 2002. How convenient that the SBI World Championships are scheduled for Nov. 3-10 in New Orleans, most SBI teams are from the NJ area and will be unable to attend this meeting. The speed limit was proposed supposedly because of an increase in watercraft accidents and deaths. The NJDOT lowered the speed limit on the parkway to 55 for many years then it was later determined that the speed of the cars was not the problem and raised it to 65. Though there were a few tragic accidents this year, to mention the 3 brothers in a cat and the yacht that hit a fishing boat. These accidents happened in the Intracoastal Waterways and or the ocean, not the bay. In both these cases speed was not determined to be the cause of these tragic accidents. Those of us that are not going to New Orleans should be going to the meeting Nov. 6, 2002 in Perth Amboy NJ to voice your opinion. I’m sure a few of us are lawyers and would also find this mater to be in your interest also.

Hey luki, give me a call. New info.

SOME BODY PLEASE SAVE US ..........

Hi Paul. That really is a great shot of your boat during one of the Point races. I remember the day all too well.

The board is made up of 5 members who were appointed by Christy. One of them is a good friend of mine. That's how I found out about this a month ago.

I am working with Dave P and the NJPPC as they are the local poker run club who has some cash to hire a lawyer. And so we have. He is a maritime lawyer and was used as a witness for the prosecutor in the Flowers case. We have a follow up meeting with him tommorow. The plan is to go in with a few, maybe 5, well spoken powerboaters and hopefully not overwhelm them. Lots of people will just say the same thing over and over.

I'll let you know what happens after the meeting.

The board member that brought this up is Mr. Brown, an 80 yr old snailboter from Bayhead.

One thing we can't do it to attempt to justify why we need to go over 60mph on a weekend. We don't want to talk about limits at all. According to my marine cop buddie, there were 18 deaths this year and only the three brothers can be attributed to speed. However this action would not place a speed limit on the ocean, just tidal waters. I say just, that is every where along the coast and the Deleware river and Raritan bay. Could you imagine trying to set up a radar trap?

Here are some points.
1. Some boats don't have speedometers. Most are inaccurate and won't even register until about 35 mph.

2. The marine police don't have radar guns to enforce it. Radar doesn't work well on fiberglass.

This is a Brady bill on water. The lady who's hubby died in the GW by Mr Flowers wants to protect the rest of us. How ******* nobel of her.

Please rest assured that we have your back on this. Contact NJPPC.Com if you care to donate to the cause. About the price of a half tank of gas would be helpful.

If the law goes through, every hot boat will be painted all white so after you outrun the cops, they'll all look the same.

Hope you guys do not all have to get row boats!!!!!

RonP
Good luck, and sounds like you guys are getting organized.

I'm afraid that the lack of reliable speedometers in most boats, and a lack of radar guns might not stop this law. IF the law is passed, this "Panel" would probobly request that Marine Patrol get increased funding for new equipment and training to enforce this new law.

As far as the speedo issue, there would probobly be a grace period, (That's what they do here in Fl.) where the MP would issue warnings, instead of tickets, and inform boaters that they need to get their speedos fixed. For most boats out on the water, 30 MPH is just about 3/4 to full speed and I'm afraid that the specific boats this law is targeting is us, Hi-performance boaters. The MP will be looking for mainly boaters doing 50-60+ MPH where is speed is easily determined.

As far as radar guns working on boats, I have used them many times, and have gotten steady, accurate readings off the "METAL" that's on the boats, so be careful with that arguement.

Try to remember that, just because a new law is hard to enforce, doesn't mean it won't be passed.

Where are all the Hi-Performance marinas/dealers on this issue? The economic impact of this law has to be brought to this panel's attention and the loss of tax dollars if people STOP buying Hi-Perf. boats and all the $$ it takes to operate them.
A another possible determent is where is this "Increased funding" going to come from? In this depressed economy, who is going to raise taxes for this law? NJ and alot of other states are just trying to keep the lights on?

What is your lawyer plan of attack?

Once again, good luck and I hope this law doesn't pass! I can not tell you how miserable it is, having to idle for 45-minutes to an hour just to get to the 1st 25 MPH zone!!!
MD

Good luck guys , spent alot of time on the Barnegate bay growing up, that would suck!

Dig deep into this website and you will find a report by the MO State Water Patrol on the no wake zone. Zero reduction in accidents!!

www.mswp.state.mo.us

I'd also be careful with the radar argument. You may end up running across someone from the "Other Side" asking just how the Radar Shootout at the Water's Edge has worked in the past.
Which - I just read on the NJPPC site isn't happening this year. That sucks.

Dean has a good point with the money issue . Where they gonna get the extra money to enforce it ???