Speeding Tickets on State’s Big Lake?
Concord — January 31, 2008 — This could be the last summer that powerful speedboats open up their throttles on Lake Winnipesaukee.
By a vote of 236-111, the New Hampshire House on Wednesday passed a bill that set speed limits on the state’s biggest lake. The limits of 45 mph in the daytime and 25 mph at night will take effect in 2009 for a two-year trial period. The bill now goes to the Senate.
[Editor's Note: Local Representatives Cunningham and Heard voted in support of the bill, Representative Merrow voted against].
This is not the first time the House has passed a boating speed limit bill. In 2006, it passed a similar bill for all lakes, but it died in the Senate on a 15-9 vote.
This year’s bill, HB 847, originally called for limits on all lakes of 10 acres or more. The House Transportation Committee amended the bill to cover only Lake Winnipesaukee and made the limits a two-year experiment, calling for them to expire in 2011.
Lake Winnipesaukee would become the second lake in the state with a boat speed limit. Squam Lake has a 40 mph daytime limit and a 20 mph night limit.
But Governor John Lynch, commenting on the legislation, says he doesn’t think boat speeds are the worst problem on the lakes, adding he’s not sure he’d sign a plan to set overall boat speed limits on Lake Winnipesaukee.
Speaking Thursday morning on radio station WGIR, Lynch said there are other problems such as boats going too fast while too close to other boats or to shore. He said he would consider the proposed limit if it gets to his desk.
Some who wanted the limits noted that Lake George in New York has had speed limits in effect for 17 years.
The bill drew most of its support from Democrats, with 42 Republicans joining them. Ten Democrats voted against the limits.
The bill has been opposed by boaters and fishermen who want to get from one spot to another quickly. They argue the greatest threats to safety are not speed, but operator inattention and violations of safety regulations. They say better enforcement of existing law is the answer.
Those who have fought to get limits in place say that speeders in high-powered boats pose a threat to swimmers, kayakers, canoeists and law-abiding boaters.
Rep. Howard Cunningham, D-Sandwich, said the bill is “sensible, enforceable and clearly in the best interest of the public.” Opponents argued that the lake is safe and limits will not dissuade the few determined speeders.
“A problem does not exist, but yet we’re trying to solve it,” Rep. Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, said.
Minority Leader Michael Whalley, R-Alton, noted that the state has strict rules on boat operators that require them to slow whenever they are within 150 feet of another boat.
The bill says that conviction of breaking the speed limits will appear on a violator’s driving record, kept by the Division of Motor Vehicles.
The Transportation Committee held the bill back from a full vote last year so the Department of Safety could conduct a speed survey on Winnipesaukee.
The survey from July to September checked 3,852 boats, all but 62 of them during the day. A total of 36 boats were clocked at more than 45 mph. The survey found an average weekend speed of just under 29 mph, and an average weekday speed of 26 mph. The maximum speed, hit by three boats, was 62 mph.
Safety found that just under 1 percent of daytime boats exceeded 45 mph and 20 percent of boats at night exceeded 25 mph.
Rep. James Pilliod, R-Belmont, sponsor of the speed limit bill two years ago, said the state’s speed survey is not a reliable source of data because it was so highly publicized. The results are skewed by the fact that boaters knew they were being watched, he said.
[Portions of this story courtesy of The Associated Press]
4 Responses to “Speeding Tickets on State’s Big Lake?”
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if writing boat speeding tickets will help generate more revenue for the state then expect this to get passed after the trial period…meanwhile open alcohol containers still do not get the attention it deserves. During the summers I see more alcohol on the lakes than I do speeding boats. A drunk driver in a 40 hp boat can do a lot more damage than a sober driver in a 300hp boat. as hard as we try we are never going to be able to legislate our way out of accidents…the only thing speed limits will do is restrict recreational activity.
I don’t think I’ve ever hit “40″ on the lake. I do see people however, racing all the time. People in those situations could care less about slowing when they come within 150 ft. of another boat, or getting too close to shore. What has not been mentioned is the errosion of the shore line due, in fact to the huge wake some of these boats leave. After being on the lake for some 6 years, I have very little faith in other “boaters” doing the sensible thing. Thers’s just too much booze, and too much arrogance out there.
…and if those people that race can’t obey the 150 ft rule how ill they obey the speed limit ???
the lake is like an ocean, passing a speed limit law is the most rediculous thing i have ever heard. there are no swimmers in the middle of the lake where speed boats tend to open it up. and the survey they took is wack. I’ve been on the lake for over 10 years now and seen boats pushing a 100 everyday. boat’s aren’t the only speeders on the lake either, jet skiers are doin well over 45 too. it is jsut rediculous some of the laws and requirments that are somehow getting by.