Clear Lake Boat and Accident Attorney
The Statistics: Clear Lake, in Lake County, California has over 100 miles of shoreline, with a surface area of 43, 785 acres. See, www.wikipedia.com. Second to Lake Tahoe, Clear Lake may be the most heavily used, concentrated water recreation area in California. The Lake's huge area, abundance of fish, such as bass, and the ease with which recreational boaters may launch or rent boats make for spectacular day-outings. The three hours drive from San Francisco to Clear Lake State Park (5300 Soda Bay Rd, Kelseyville) makes for a sweet day-trip, if a long one.
Dangers: Because there are no posted speed limit signs, nor much in the way of marking channels or the like, nor much in the way of law enforcement presence, Clear Lake lends itself to a lot of free-form navigation by sail boats, power boats and personal watercraft, including jet skis and wind-surf boards. Add super fast power boats, novice sailors, alcohol and the occasional fool: the recreational boater had better - at least - keep a lookout, operate prudently, wear a life jacket and obey all navigational laws and boating regulations or the drive back from that day-trip may be a sad one, due to a personal injury, or worse, due to a wrongful death while boating.
The following tragedies are not imagination, but abstracts from actual pleasure boating accidents, just to give the Clear Lake boat and personal watercraft operators insight into the potential hazards at Clear Lake:
! As background, in the December 18, 2009 online issue of the magazine, Popular Mechanics, a bass boat is reported capable of speeds in excess of 100 m.p.h. In one boat collision accident, a family of adults and children, in their pleasure craft going slow on a sunny weekend, was struck by as bass-boat going at about 70 m.p.h. after the speeding boat had rounded a bend in the waterway without giving warning. The impact threw one of the victims about 20 feet into the air. The pleasure craft driver and its lookout said they had no time to avoid the collision.
! As background, it has become popular for boaters to anchor-out together, forming circles; thus, allowing Apicnics@ or parties where persons step or swim from boat to boat or holding onto swim platform of idling boats while swinning. Turns out that the exhaust from stern-drive, outboard motors and inboard/outboard drives spew much more carbon monoxide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide?) than a car. This poison is clear, odorless and asphyxiating. A mother watched as her young child, who had been holding onto the boat=s swim platform while the motor was at idle, suddenly lose consciousness and slip underwater. The child=s body was recovered the next day. This well-meaning mother will never recover from this tragedy.
Applicable Laws, Rules and Regulations: The collision could have been avoided if the bass boat had observed the Arules of the road@ found in the California Harbors and Navigation Code (AH&N@). H&N '284 require the bass boat to Agive right rudder.@ Had that been done, the boats would probably have crossed clear of each other. Had the bass boat operator sounded a warning before turning the bend, as the law provides, there would have been no waterborne personal injury accident. The law states, in part:
A boat nearing a bend in a channel where vessels approaching from the other direction cannot be seen shall signal with a prolonged blast . . . If the signal is unanswered, the channel may be considered clear.
As for 70 mph, the law states: AA safe speed should be maintained at all times so that: a) action can be taken to avoid collision and b) the boat can stop within a distance appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions.@
The child's drowning could have been prevented if the boat operator had obeyed the law, which states, in part:
It is a violation of California law to operate a vessel's motor or generator while a person is: . . . (2) while someone is occupying or holding onto the swim platform, swim deck, swim step or swim ladder, except for a very brief period of time when a person is assisting with the docking or departure of the vessel, while exiting or entering the vessel, or while the vessel is engaged in law enforcement or emergency rescue activity. . . .
Arnold I. Berschler is a Clear Lake boat accident lawyer who has been practicing the law of boats and boating (maritime law) for over 37 years. Call him (800 338 1441) or write to him (www.info@berschler.com) - for a free consultation - with your questions or about your potential personal injury or wrongful death claims.
