Should the driving age of driving a motorized boat be raised to 16 like driving a car? 🛥 ⛵️

[Buzz Rules]

I think jet skis would be considered a personal watercraft. So still not a majority.

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They are considered pwc.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think jet skis would be considered a personal watercraft. So still not a majority.

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And drowning is majority caused by not wearing a life jacket.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Which has nothing to do with what you're proposing. If you want more education (which most of us agree is pretty important) that should be your stance.

As far as universal rules that is tricky because not every body of water has the same risks and thus should not necessarily be treated the same. The U.S. has many different types of waters from depths, to obstacles, to terrain, to length, width and all sorts of other things. Letting states make decisions is prudent in these cases and no amount of posting videos is going to change that.

Education's effectiveness is also dependent on the maturity and responsibility of the student. That typically comes with older and not younger kids.

 

[dez1978]

I just feel that a 16 year old has more intelligence and maturity to operate a boat or pwc than someone below that age.

Well obv a 16 yr old is going to be more intelligent and mature. But thats also kid dependent. my 11 year old is far more mature than my almost 14 yr old lol. I'm just saying statistics don't back up your argument that it's worth changing and making a federal law about. But this thread made me fall into a rabbit hole, and I appreciate that lol.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My kids are now 34 and 38. They both had their licenses the minute they turned 16 because it made it easier for my wife and I for them to have their own transportation. They also went to a private school 13 miles from home. We have always had at least one spare car, going back to before our oldest was born, so there was always a vehicle available.

Yes but you were talking about the youths of today (in this case it would be Gen Z). It was not the same as when your kids were of that age (which is very close to my age), some of the behaviors can be seen in the youngest of Millennials in terms of delayed age of a DL but it's mostly Gen Z.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Education's effectiveness is also dependent on the maturity and responsibility of the student. That typically comes with older and not younger kids.

According to the stats (which match my own experience and viewpoint as well) the older peeps are the ones who lack the maturity and responsibility to choose to get education so not sure you're helping your case there and even if they do get the education they will still likely be shown to contribute the most to incidents.

Again I repeat myself you need to back up more than just your feeling because as I see it now in terms of accidents parents are already doing their own judgements. And in terms of stats the parents (more meaning adults) are the actual problems.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Well obv a 16 yr old is going to be more intelligent and mature. But thats also kid dependent. my 11 year old is far more mature than my almost 14 yr old lol. I'm just saying statistics don't back up your argument that it's worth changing and making a federal law about. But this thread made me fall into a rabbit hole, and I appreciate that lol.

But your okay with a 10 year old being able to drive a boat in the country? I'm not directing the comment at you personally but does anyone not see a problem with a kid under 16, as young as 10, being able to drive a boat that is fully capable of hurting multiple people on the water? I know there are very mature young people in our country. But there are definitely others who are not mature at all with irresponsible parents who will not care what their kids do. And that's a scary thought if one of those kids is having a bad day.

 

[Buzz Rules]

According to the stats (which match my own experience and viewpoint as well) the older peeps are the ones who lack the maturity and responsibility to choose to get education so not sure you're helping your case there and even if they do get the education they will still likely be shown to contribute the most to incidents.

Again I repeat myself you need to back up more than just your feeling because as I see it now in terms of accidents parents are already doing their own judgements. And in terms of stats the parents (more meaning adults) are the actual problems.

A major factor in helping reducing issues with adult boaters is having increased legal penalties and more boat/waterway law enforcement in all areas.

 

[dez1978]

But your okay with a 10 year old being able to drive a boat in the country? I'm not directing the comment at you personally but does anyone not see a problem with a kid under 16, as young as 10, being able to drive a boat that is fully capable of hurting multiple people on the water. I know there are very mature young people in our country. But there are definitely others who are not mature at all with irresponsible parents who will not care what their kids do. And that's a scary thought if one of those kids is having a bad day.

My kids have been driving side by sides, four wheelers and dirt bikes since they were 5. The immature kids you speak of with irresponsible parents who don't care what their kids do... If they want to drive a boat at 15, they are going to do it, regardless if its legal or not. Just as kids under the age of 16 steal cars. Do I think a 10 yr old should be driving a boat, alone? No. But I also don't think statistics support te need to make a federal law to make the age 16.

 

[lanejudy]

But your okay with a 10 year old being able to drive a boat in the country?

As far as I can find -- that 10-yr-old in NYS must have completed the boating safety certification AND have a licensed adult (age 21+) within arms reach. There aren't boatloads of 10-yr-olds out partying on the lake unsupervised.

 

[easyas123]

Interesting...I partially grew up on a boat, and my brothers & I were in & out of boats of all types & sizes our whole childhood. We were towing the boat 40 minutes down the road to the ramp and taking it out for the day when we were old enough to drive. I guess it all depends on how you grew up...
I know here in MD anyone can take the online 'boating' course which is technically required if you were born after 07/1972. It's just a piece of paper and in no way means anyone has the ability to operate a boat, just that they have the ability to sit in front of computer and look up answers - or had someone else do it for them.

 

[lanejudy]

Education's effectiveness is also dependent on the maturity and responsibility of the student. That typically comes with older and not younger kids.

Education's effectiveness is also somewhat dependent on the amount of exposure to the learning material. A child who learns boating safety at a young age and is brought up respecting those rules is far more likely to continue those safe practices as an adult than an older teen/young adult just learning such information.

 

[easyas123]

My kids have been driving side by sides, four wheelers and dirt bikes since they were 5. The immature kids you speak of with irresponsible parents who don't care what their kids do... If they want to drive a boat at 15, they are going to do it, regardless if its legal or not. Just as kids under the age of 16 steal cars. Do I think a 10 yr old should be driving a boat, alone? No. But I also don't think statistics support te need to make a federal law to make the age 16.

Exactly.
Not every kid gets or had the same experience.
My kids spent weeks at a time on a 50' Ketch in elementary school. They could sail and dock a boat better than most. They drove heavy equipment and dirt bikes, my eldest got his NCCCO certs & CDL at 18 cause he was already familiar.
As with many things, depends on how the kid grew up and what they were exposed to.

 

[Buzz Rules]

I do understand what everyone is saying. I just think more can be done to make things safer in the future.

 

[yourfriend2]

Yes.

 

[disneychrista]

Will Disboarders that don't have a boating safety certificate currently consider getting one in the future?

I have no desire to drive a boat so no I won't be getting any type of certificate or license or whatever

 

[gsdweller]

I think it is a good idea, but will not help the issue at all.

In the last 10 years or so, there have been an average of about 600 boating deaths in the US each year. (compared to 40,000 automobile deaths). Less than 10% of those deaths were caused by operators too young to have a drivers license.

While these deaths are not insignificant, the burden of control is the issue. There are rarely officials available to stop underage (some states do have laws) operators, and in most cases where a death is involved, my experience has been that the operator is/would have broken the law anyway.

More laws will not help anything. More training and enforcement could, but putting that money into automobile recklessness would save way more lives.

 

[tvguy]

Yes but you were talking about the youths of today (in this case it would be Gen Z). It was not the same as when your kids were of that age (which is very close to my age), some of the behaviors can be seen in the youngest of Millennials in terms of delayed age of a DL but it's mostly Gen Z.

My mom didn't get her Driver's License until right after I was born at age 34. My parents lived in the "sticks", and they had a newborn and they decided for safety my mom would get a license and a car. Just no need before then.

 

[AppleDumpling]

WDW used to rent out small motorboats called Sea Raycers (formerly known as water sprites, water mice, or mouse boats), at several of the resorts. Years ago, we rented them (as adults) and had a fun time zipping around Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon. I was surprised that kids as young as 12 were allowed to drive them.

 

[design_mom]

Like some others, I'm wondering if this is a problem that needs a solution, or if it's a solution looking for a problem. Are there lots of accidents caused by boat-operators under the age of 16?

When I was a young teen, we had a boat and I would drive it sometimes. If we were skiing, there were always at least 2 adults on the boat (one to drive, and one to watch the skier), but when we went fishing, it was often just me and my dad. When it was time to trailer/untrailer the boat, I would drop him off at the dock, then drive the boat while he handled the trailer.

My sister has a lakehouse now, her kids and mine took the Boater Education class when they were young teens. It was because they wanted to be able to drive the jet-ski, but was a good class (in person) on water safety anyway. And honestly, I think my oldest was 16 and my youngest was 12. I think my 12 year old was MUCH more attentive in the class than my 16 year old, because she was more invested than the 16 year old who thought he knew it all already.