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View Full Version : Illinois Boaters, Grab your ankles.



Fish boy
04-04-2003, 08:15 PM
093_SB0142
LRB093 04301 DRH 06866 b

1 AN ACT in relation to vehicles.

2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly:

4 Section 5. The Boat Registration and Safety Act is 5 amended by adding Section 4-2.1 as follows:

6 (625 ILCS 45/4-2.1 new) 7 Sec. 4-2.1. Reflective material required. Any watercraft 8 requiring numbering by this State must be equipped with 9 reflective material, such as reflective tape, at least one 10 inch wide, surrounding the entire hull of the watercraft, and 11 visible when the watercraft is in the water.


This bill passed the Senate yesterday, and will go before the House. Word has it that Boat U.S. is working with the NMMA to somehow get the bill derailed. Apparently the Senator (Larry D. Woolard - a Democrat) who introduced it had a friend whose 12 year old daughter took the boat out, ran out of gas, and was eventually found unharmed. However, he feels the search and rescue would have gone quicker and they could have located the boat sooner if it had reflective tape on it.
______

Anyone think this will help the appearance of their boats??

MOP
04-04-2003, 08:26 PM
An Absolutely GLOWING ISSUE! Dumb buggers aught to be sent to Deliverance Country might put a little spring in their step and clear their minds IDIOTS!

Murphy
04-04-2003, 09:24 PM
The bill as originally submitted called for a 1" wide stripe of reflective material surrounding the entire hull and visible from the water. It has now been amended to say a

Murphy
04-04-2003, 09:24 PM
The bill as originally submitted called for a 1" wide stripe of reflective material surrounding the entire hull and visible from the water. It has now been amended to say a

Murphy
04-04-2003, 09:34 PM
The bill as originally submitted called for a 1" wide stripe of reflective material surrounding the entire hull and visible from the water. It has now been amended to say a one inch strip down each side. You can read the bill and follow amendments at http://www.legis.state.il.us/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=142&GAID=3&SessionID=3&LegID=1618

Frankly, I don't know how far this will go. Oddly enough, the longer I thought about it the more it began to make some sense to me. We occassionally run at night on our lake. I always run full lights and a 2-million cp remote spot on the bow. Every time, I run by some fool drowning worms in the middle of the lake with the anchor set and no lights. I've actually stopped to talk to them only to find out they often don't actually know where they are on the lake. So basically, they're lost. Remember, laws are primarily written to protect the world from idiots... and there are, in my experience more per square meter on the water than anywhere on the planet. Never-the-less, I hope the law doesn't pass.

Murph

RPD
04-04-2003, 09:59 PM
let me see if i understand this.... the girl was on a lake.... that means it was a closed body of water completely surrounded by land.... in other words, there was nowhere for her to go, so unless the boat sank and she drowned, she would still be there in the morning when the sun came up.... for this they are going to require every boat in the state to buy reflective tape??? is the bill sponsored by ace hardware or home depot???

when i was 12 years old (1960) we took our boats out at night regularly.... on bodies of water that connected directly to open water....ie. one could conceivably circumnavigate the world and eventually come home.... no reflective tape needed, and no parents calling the coast guard... most of my use of my donzi is at night, i use legal running lights and on moonless nights i occasionally turn on a handheld spotlight to find a channel marker (the spotlight ruins my night vision and makes it much harder to see once it's turned off).... if these people cannot navigate in the dark, and keep the legally required lookout while fishing, they should stay home and play video games, but not make others buy tape.

stupid law!

<small>[ April 04, 2003, 10:00 PM: Message edited by: RPD ]</small>

BigGrizzly
04-04-2003, 11:31 PM
It sounds like a white boot top to me.

Walt. H.
04-05-2003, 03:08 AM
O' Man! When is this going to all end? Governmental ass-hole's, So call know it all's constantly trying to protect us from ourselves. What's next? Florecent bottom paint law at $1000.00 per Gal.just incase there looking for a capsized boat. I thought the coast guard safety equiptment we are mandated to carry cover's this topic.I'm not going to list all the items to help "visual detection" you know what they are. Everytime something bad happens, there a politician looking for publicity.I'll invent a new law to save society from itself! Without first checking to see that there already is at least a dozen covering the same thing. :mad: :rolleyes: Just what we need more dumb laws & taxes to enforce them!

Scott Pearson
04-05-2003, 08:19 AM
Well...if Senator Larry D. Woolard had a well equiped boat with a VHS radio this also wouldnt have happened.....What a pud!


(NJ)Scott

Donzified
04-05-2003, 10:27 AM
Murphy:
Did you mean to say that you leave your spot light on when you run at night?

HyperDonzi
04-05-2003, 11:15 AM
And here we complain about noise restrictions! That sounds pretty bad, Is it even legal for a 12 year old to take a boat out alone there?

Chris-007
04-05-2003, 11:37 AM
Yeah Murphy, you may come underfire for running with the spotlight on. I think you are only suppossed to use for docking, finding a navaid, etc. Jeapordizes your night vision and that of others to run lit up. :rolleyes:

Hey just my opinion, but I think it is the accepted practice. Safe boating all...

<small>[ April 05, 2003, 11:38 AM: Message edited by: Chris-007 ]</small>

Murphy
04-05-2003, 02:12 PM
Yes, we only use the spot to look for nav-aids. I also make a practice of sweeping it ahead every few minutes just to see what's out there. Twice I have come up on night fisherman with no lights. It does take away night vision for a few seconds though.

Murph

Darrell
04-05-2003, 04:00 PM
1st in my state a 12yr old is not legal to take a boat out. However if big brother thinks we need to be seen at night How about putting to reflective tape up & down the light bar, so it could be seen at night and put away in the daytime? I would hate to have blue or green boat with red tape on it.

Just my 2 pesos:

Darrell

gjohns6896
04-05-2003, 11:49 PM
Last time I checked &lt;when I was 14...12 years ago&gt; To operate a boat ALONE in Illinois, you had to be at least 14 and have taken the boating safety course. For jet-skis, I think it is 16 with a license, maybe even 18 now.

This is just another DAMN DEMOCRAT trying to save the "F"'in' planet! What next...no night boating? The lake I am on used to have no-wake after midnight, now, due to some idiots with loud boats and many complaints, it is no-wake after 10pm. WHAT A JOKE! :mad: So, once our 4th of July fireworks are done, we all have to IDLE back to our respective docks, etc.!! WHAT A JOKE! Makes me sick...and want to move to MICHIGAN, if not for their CRAPPY ICE STORMS! eek! &lt;Sorry, SAGBAY32!&gt;

Thanks for listening.

Cheers,
GJJ