OT:Boats vs Autos Whats safer ?

The main reasons I think boat drivers are smarter than auto drivers are:

1. Boats travel over the water with no lines or directions to follow. Autos have roads to

drive on and signs for when to stop and go.

2. Boats generally have no speed limits other than no wake zones. Autos have speed limits and

all kinds of signs to guide them.

3. Boats fill the lakes on summer weekends with very few collisions. Autos cram the roadways

during the work week and are involved in crashes a plenty.

4. In order to drive an auto you must pass a written and driving test, and possess a valid

operators license, and insurance. Most states don't require a license to operate a boat.


5. Heres the real clincher. Boats do not have brakes ! What ? Boats don't have brakes?

What part of that dont you understand ?

Give us a clue where you operate a watercraft... so that you might be avoided.

Boats vs. cars?
You must not have been around boats much.
My parents live on the water in Michigan, A very large lake with a lot of boats.

With boats come...Beer....Brests....wild parties....and on and on.

I moved out of my parents home in 1992. I saw many boat accidents, near collisions, and boats sunk due to hidden objects.

One of the worst things ever was in the summer of the early 90's I was sound asleep at 1am with my bedroom window open and I heard a loud crash. A drunken crowd crashed their boat into a steel seawall. I jumped out of bed, threw on some gym shorts and ran out to see if anyone was hurt. As I approached the smashed boat the driver says in a very worried voice.....Yeah, were okay, just dont call the cops, just dont call the fricken cops. I said fine, and went back to bed.
When guys are watching b**bs and not watching what is in front of them....they tend to get into accidents. What if every car was a convertible and all the women in the cars were wearing bikini tops. (a lot more car wrecks would occur)

You must have never lived on a large lake before.
A boater safety course should be mandatory when purchasing any boat, just too many stupid people out there, like my BIL.

Not many cars have hit icebergs!!

Whose interpretation of "boat" are you using?

That is a good one.

Boats or ships?????????????? I was a navy guy so which is safer neither one. Cars can crash and a boat or ship can sink. So think about this one. You have a ship bigger then a foot ball field that can go over 50 MPH and it has no brakes again not safe. Yes BTDT on top pf the water and under it to boot.

Sounds like you've never been boating in a seaport. Lots of "rules of the road" and signs (buoys) to tell you what to do. And around here during the summer there's probably several times as many boating deaths per mile as there are highway deaths, even if you figure in the ferry system and cruise ships which probably doubles or triples the passenger miles for boating. Seems like every weekend there's another boater or two killed on either Puget Sound or one of the bigger lakes and rivers here.

Old, I would have to believe the number of boats that are "bigger than a football field and can go over 50 mph" could be counted on (maybe) one finger. Even that would astound me. Please show me some proof and I'll eat my words. Until then, I think you should eat yours.

Running a PBR on the rivers of the Mecong Delta in South Vietnam was not real safe. River only a few yards wider than boat most of the time. Any one know what a 51 caliber machine gun is?

Boats got brakes now, just saw a waverunner ad, forgot the name.

Well think about it how fast can an air craft carrier go??? Sorry all I can say is over 50 knots the true speed is classified but yes they can do 50 plus back when I was on the JFK we did speed trials and we had a rooster tail from the screws well over the flight deck and doing 50 plus knots. There are many things about the Navy and for that matter all branches of the service that those who have been in can not tell people because it is classified

You got that right!

One big problem is, particularly on inland lakes, is people tend to think of a boat as a toy, and toys aren"t supposed to hurt you. Guess what?

Plus you have all the freaking idiots who don"t even realize there are rules of the road on water, just as on land, let alone know what they are.