nolimits

One would think that safety and an attempt at saftey by the industry would do two things: 1) Help save lives. To focus on safety and monitor progress made, create an on going evolution of of thought and accomplishment, boater and industry education, boater awarness, responsibility and respect. 2) The outside world will look on and see that we lead the thought and have the intelligence to self regulate.

Imagine what the family in the Bayliner thinks, or the guy sucking the beer down holding on to the pole in the Proline when one of us comes ripping past at 100 close and loud enough to wake the dead. Then picture what he thinks when 10 or 20 of us fly by with no life jackets on etc. Remember, it's not usually the big events that scare people. Run right, they are spectacles that the family comes out to see. The fan club if you will. It's the small runs thrown together by enthusiats where it's all about a race. The concept of how it looks to the outside world and how foolish we are bing with our future gets forgotten. That will be the undoing.

People look for ways to argue with your words, you did not put it quite right. I would not have said that but you could have said this. These are often the guys who don't usualy say anything or say very little. These are the guys that don't get it. I want the frontier of offshore boating to stay forever. I don't think that will happen though.... It will get regulated and cops and coast guarders from Idaho who could care less about the rush we love and call offshore boating will be there to hand out tickets and enforce 45 mph speed zones. You want to race, go 5 miles out offshore. Watch.

But I'll listen and do what I can, as I do now.... I support Miami as a good step and hope something goos comes from it. Ron, what else can we do?

SHARKEY-IMAGES

No one is saying you had to single anyone out!

But in this post you chose to:

There are 17 Planning Committee members of the NJPPC of which the majority of them all live right around you Ron.
If you needed any input on Poker Runs, or wanted to get a message out to the Poker Run participants, the club has over 4000 email addresses.

In my opinion, it would have been a better story after the meeting took place.

After all the organizations, promoters, and others involved with the poker run scene had been invited to this meeting via email, phone calls, US Mail etc. and all walked away with more safety plans in mind.
From what you wrote, it makes it sound like there is no one at the helm when running in a poker run. And yes, that has upset quite a few people.

We all agree on one thing. There is always room for improvement on Safety. And the clubs are always open for suggestions from anyone at anytime.

People shouldn't have to wait for a Summit to give their suggestions!

If anyone sees something that can be improved at their runs, SPEAK UP!!! Let the organizers know!

What's done is done! What has been printed has been printed.

We can only hope it won't bite us later down the road.......

Ron P

The meeting room holds 25 people. So far 20 are signed up. We felt that to get through this topic in a few short hours, limiting to producers, manufacturers, sponsors and insurers made the most sense.

If anyone would like to put a thought on the table, beyond what has been said in this post, please send me a Private message or email.

boatme

So much to say, so little discresion, i will say my piece in private

HotPursuit

Ok lets go further::: Get rid of everything that can hurt us.
peddle bikes,skate boards,roller skates,motor cycles (aka organ donors)wet bikes,4 wheelers,snow & water skiing
ice skating,amusement parks,football at all levels,baseball
boxing,horse back ridding,bass fishing,sport cars,SMOKING
DRINKING,OVER HEATING,fast foods,sun exposures,HURRICANES,deer hunting,bass fishing,I think we
get the point.This all comes down to law suits!!Can someone
give the amount of deaths that happen on wet bikes compared
to performance boating.This is supposed to be a free country
and I for One am tired of the government acting like my mother.There's lots of money in this sport and thats the only
reason for the attention.(PS ask your local ER room how many
people get hurt or killed from lawn mowers & chain saws
every year. Man don't even get me started. CAR DEATHS

nolimits

All good points. Most of everything you listed is regulated.

HotPursuit

Really the highest speed limit I know of in this country is 70.
So why to we need cars that go 180 plus or motor cycles for
that matter.I'll tell you why because of big money going to
campaign funds.I'm just trying to make the point of regulation
from the government will not always save life's.I do think there
should be a drivers test to operate any type of engine powered
boat.At least this way the government could penalize the ones
who constantly break the law.
If it's not about big insurance money than why does it cost so
much more to drive a cat than a V bottom?Somebody please
show me some statistics that prove that this is justified.

animalhouse

I was and am sickened by this article. The message could have been portreyed without all of the sarcam. I have been poker running for many years, and have attended every major poker run in the past three years alone, is there room for improvement, yes.

The fact is that every anti-powerboater has a copy of this article under their arm and is toting this around their lawyer / insurance office and using this as a tool to get rid of our sport.

Ron P did more to damage this sport with his reckless use of sarcasm and one sided scenerios and comparisons between racing and poker runs.

Ron, if you were to add up the number of poker run fatalities and/or serious injuries in the past 10 years and compared them to the number of racing fatalites or serious injuries, How close is that statistic?

The fact is Ron P. and extreme boat magazine used an example of an ACCIDENT to get on his soapbox and preach to everybody about safety.

Good Job Ron, instead of going down in powerboat history as the guy who reformed poker run safety, you will be known as the guy who killed poker runs as we know it.

nolimits

I don't think anyone can show you the stats. I think in this case is't about perception. If we have a drivers license, then we need someone to make sure we have the license when we drive. If we have to follow up on the license thing, we have to pay for the effort. Might as well make a few laws to enforce, to generate the revenue to pay to see if they have a license. The perception of how fast you can go makes the speed limit. The safety issue comes along in tow and other stuff after that.

I think what concerns me is that I see a lot of us out of hand when we do drive. Read the threads on here, talk to some of the guys and watch some of the poker runs that really are races for some. It happens all the time and the rest of us talk about the guys out of hand and turn a blind eye to it. I listen to some of the guys who create these runs who are in complete denial. It just seems that when some of us use poor judgement, we are all at risk. We have to step up to the plate at every level and use common sense to self police. If we don't someone else will. I honestly am not sure what self police means. I just roll my eyes listening to guys defend bussiness as usual and deny there is a problem. The problem is somewhere else line just does not fly because the problem over there is going to bite us all in the butt.

nolimits

Ok ok. If you are right, then what should be done to improve safety? What is the path that gets it done and by who?