Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Tragic story. The pic of the toon after the crash is scary. May not have made a difference but a 5 year old without a life jacket???

Wow, i've been on that lake before. That's terrible.

i cant pull it up, anyone have another link?

That's horrible.... and that's part of the reason I won't launch my toon on summer holidays.. for one, it can get too congested... and then of course you add alcohol, and this "need for speed" and you see what can happen... the reward is just not worth the risk......I've never really thought about it this way, but are there any lakes out there that actually have some sort of speed limit law on the water ( other than no wake zones ). I think some sort of speed enforcement would help, especially when you consider boats don't have brakes... I know on our lake it's the equivalent of driving on the German Autobahn.. Just drop the hammer. Not a good thing in my opinion.

Not to pile on after such a horrible tragedy, but the captain of the pontoon boat could be held to be criminally negligent for not requiring the younger passengers to wear a life jacket. It might not have saved the youngster's life, but who can say for sure.
I noticed that in NC all persons 13 & younger on a boat are required to wear life jackets. Here in MO it's 7 & younger, but I require all the young'uns up to teen age to have one on in the pontoon. I also require any passengers in my bass boat to have one on when using the big motor. Anal? Possibly, but I couldn't live with myself if something were to happen that could have been prevented by wearing a PFD.