Chattahoochee River Whitewater Topics: GUILTY Pay your Fine

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	Name:	woofwoof -
	Subject:	GUILTY Pay your Fine
	Date:	7/16/2008 1:00:18 AM

First of all I was unaware of the fact that a kill switch had to be attached in every boat. (Apparently only in those under 24 feet which seems a little counter intuitive given the fact that a larger boat would cause more damage if unmanned and under power.) I had only heard of this being mandatory for jet skis. In my fifteen plus years boating and fishing the lake I have never heard of anyone getting a ticket for this. I have been stopped several times for checks by both DNR and marine police and the only time the kill switch had been adressed was to check to see if it was present and functioning, not attached.
Secondly, I was in a pontoon going less than ten miles an hour. If somehow I fell over the three foot railing, I feel pretty confident I could have caught up to the boat. If not, I'm certain that one of the other nine people in the boat would have simply put it in nuetral and let me get in or just turned around to come get me. The situation was not one in which my standing to get sunscreen posed a real danger to anyone. The boat was going very slow and in reality standing gave me a view of the other boats in the area.
Lastly, I am not complaining that the marine police were enforcing safety regulations during a weekend when the lake is especially dangerous. I simply feel that my being stopped and ticketed was uncalled for in this case. If the officer felt that I was doing something dangerous, that should have been the first issue addressed when he pulled me over. However that was not the case. Rather than explaining the reason for the stop, I was immediately questioned about drinking and driving and underage drinking (neither of which were occurring on my boat). In my opinion the officer intended to give me a ticket for something. Like I said in my earlier post, they seemed genuinely disappointed that an unattached kill switch was the only violation they could find.
People wonder why there is a whole generation of kids with a distrust of law enforcement. This is a classic example. If it had been my parents and their friends I have little doubt that the situation would have been much different. The fact of the matter is that we were being responsible and using good judgement in designating a driver and making sure that we had what we thought were the proper safety features (life jackets, horn, extinguisher, throw cushions, and yes, a functioning kill switch). We were also courteous and respectful to the officers. My complaint is that our good judgment and courtesy were not reciprocated.