With summer finally here, the local lakes get real busy on the water. And with that, the potential for accidents really goes up.
This starts right at the boat launch. It’s almost comical watching some people launch their vessel. Not knowing how to back up a truck/trailer unit, no boating etiquette, not knowing how to start or drive the unit from the launch.
Being one of the people out on the lake, a person has to be very aware of what’s going on. The cross-traffic is high. This weekend, we had an incident where we had to stop our boat because others were cutting us off. On top of that, they were pulling a boarder into our line of travel. If the person was to fall in the water, we easily could have run him over, so that’s why we stop and wait for traffic to clear.
These things happen quite often, and it’s just because people don’t pay attention. Sure we need to have a boater’s licence, but that doesn’t mean much.
There are lots of good operators out there. But it’s the idiots that don’t care or don’t know how to operate a watercraft that are going to injure someone. I see it every time we go out.
I’ve seen the fish cops out there a couple times (they do a great job) but they should be out more on busy weekends.
I’m not sure what a good idea would be, but public awareness needs to rise. It’s only a matter of time before an accident like this one happens locally.
Frans Romkes
Red Deer