diver killed key biscayne

[ShakaZulu]

Do you need a skippers license to rent those boats? Looks like they ignored the dive flag.

 

[mike_s]

Somehow, Pino said, the Paradise Found passed over XXX and Lanza, injuring XXX so bad that paramedics later prepared to amputate his left leg from the groin down.

.

Of course the above was from a newspaper person who prob just got the facts wrong.....

but why would paramedics "amputate"? Unless it was just barely hanging on by a small part and they needed to get to the artery to try to stop bleeding... I can't see why otherwise they would try something like this "in the field".

 

[RonFrank]

My thoughts go out to the victim, family, and friends.

Without more information, speculation is pointless. I'm sure the people on the boat involved in the accident feel horrible. Blame however can only be assessed by the law, so we should wait until those findings are complete before pointing fingers.

The best thing that can come out of this is the recognition that the boating and/or diving laws need to be reviewed to see what can be done to make everyone safer. That could be bigger dive flags, flags flown differently, modified distance or marker laws, or maybe just better boater awareness and education. If nothing changes, then incidents like this will happen again.

 

[RonFrank]

The government isn't going to do this, tho, so whom do we ask...?

I have an idea, and posted it on Supprt/Suggestions sub forum. http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=181134

You go Don, but keep in mind that the GOV is the ONLY organization with the funding, resources, and teeth to make changes, even if it's just posting a sign at launches.

Very few if any organizations have the power to enforce rules, regulations, and laws on a state or national level outside of the government, so the smart thing is to work within the system. Other approaches will be at the very least limited, if not a complete failure.

 

[Lehmann108]

When we were diving out of Palm Beach inlet a few weeks ago, a fishing boat approached and told my wife (who piloted our boat) that they will fish here now. My wife politely told them to get away, since we obviously flew a big dive flag, and had divers in the water. (Yes, they were already so close to our boat that she could communicate simply by talking to them, without any radio.) They refused to leave at first. Only when my wife told them that she would call the coast guard, they cursed and finally went away.

I had several incidents like this. With many "captains", it's not ignorance of the law. They simply ignore the law, because they don't like it if somebody is diving "their" spot.

Too many morons with boats in our neck of the woods.

 

[jd950]

Perhaps a few well-publicized criminal prosecutions for criminally negligent homicide or the like would help, or perhaps some similarly well-publicized lawsuits? People pay attention to such things when they think their money or liberty might be jeopardized.

Does anyone know how often the "authorities" actually try to prosecute such dangerous behavior? (I have lived in a landlocked state for a long time now, so I don't have any first- hand knowledge of such things)

 

[Rick Murchison]

The sad fact is that the marine authorities are far more likely to cite a diver who fails to display a flag, or who gets too far from his flag than to any boater who violates the distance-from-the-flag rules. Indeed, when a boat does get too close to a dive flag, the interpretation of the situation is more likely to be a ticket to the diver for "interfering with navigation" than to the boater who's inside the distance limit.
Rick

 

[mike_s]

The sad fact is that the marine authorities are far more likely to cite a diver who fails to display a flag, or who gets too far from his flag than to any boater who violates the distance-from-the-flag rules. Indeed, when a boat does get too close to a dive flag, the interpretation of the situation is more likely to be a ticket to the diver for "interfering with navigation" than to the boater who's inside the distance limit.
Rick

I totally agree with your statement.... The marine authorities (regardless of agency) don't ever seem to try to enforce the law on that accordingly.

 

[Chad Carney]

A lot of information is now coming out that was not in the news release.
I had already heard the dive boat was attended and not anchored, as is common in current areas.

http://www.spearboard.com/forum/showthread.php?p=463253&posted=1#post463253

This report changes everything.

Chad

 

[haha49]

same thing happend to me in mexiaco but then there were fishing boats and tons of other boats zooming around as well try doing a safty stop with a glass bottom boat and tons of other boats zooming around.. lets just say i did it at 20 feet instead and surfaced with less air as planed as i had to wait till all the trafic went away.. and the people on the dive boat were yelling at all the people and everyone was liek in a huge area cramed in close together..