Six year old Snorkler killed by 13yo boater

[OceanObsessed]

My condolences to the family.

This really stikes a nerve with me. I can't tell you how many times my dive flag has been run over here in Fort Lauderdale Florida. It has happened so many times that I have actually gone through the trouble of constructing my own floating dive flag that flies a 20x20 flag about 4 1/2 feet above the water. It is a supersized version of the small floating dive flags that they sell in the local dive shops.

I even had one guy speed right up to my flag as I was waiving him off. He slowed down to a stop and said he saw me in the water and he just wanted to know what the red and white flag meant.

 

[Matteo]

it never ceases to amaze me that there are no licensing requirements to operate a boat....I hope one of these days our legislators will get off their fat *****es and do something about it.....very tragic...prayers to the family of the deceased and prosecution to the parents of the offender

 

[MantaRey]

I even had one guy speed right up to my flag as I was waiving him off. He slowed down to a stop and said he saw me in the water and he just wanted to know what the red and white flag meant.

Wow, that's pretty bad. I had to come up once because I noticed my flag being pulled. There wasn't exactly strong current, it was just a boater seeing what the flag was about.

It astonishes me the lack of skill people have in driving boats. It's so easy to get a car driver's license; and you don't need squat to drive a boat. Accidents waiting to happen.

I even had a close call yesterday during safety stop. It looked like a 30 footer from below. Just think, if I didn't do the safety stop, I probably would've been another statistic.

Florida: it's illegal to drive drunk ...but not on boats.

 

[TCDiver1]

Man this is sad. One family has to deal with the grief of needlessly losing a young son and the other kid and family has to deal with trama of having done the deed. Sad, sad, sad .......

 

[jviehe]

My condolences also to the family.

At Venice beach this weekend I watched as 2 jetskis did a slalom between the dive flags, actually hitting some of them.

When I first came to FL, I took a boater safety course. They would have completely skipped over the dive flag section had I not raised my hand in the class. There's far too many unqualifed boaters on the water, and the state is doing next to nothing to change that.

Why is it the states responsibility? What about the parents? If anything the state needs to severly and consistently punish people for violating laws already on the books.

 

[mrjimboalaska]

Why is it the states responsibility? What about the parents? If anything the state needs to severly and consistently punish people for violating laws already on the books.

Personal responsibility is something not taught any more. Look at the school system, and the lack of disapline, as well as the fact that the law has removed the ability of parents to disapline. NOT MY FAULT is the phrase today. "Feel Good" teaching and raising of kids has caused this.

Such a terrible thing for a family to go thru.......

 

[fairybasslet]

While the parents are ultimately responsible for the 13 yo's behavior, he could have taken the boat without their permission. Just recently in NJ, 2 teenagers were killed and one seriously injured when a 16 yo took a car without his mother knowing. 16 yo's have permits and they can only drive with an adult in the car and are not allowed to take passengers that aren't family members. 17 yo's can drive with one unrelated person in the car. My son was going somewhere with his friends and I went outside and saw a girl driving with a bunch of kids in the car. I went outside and asked her how old she was. She was only 17. So I told her what the law was and that I knew it and that I would call her mom and tell her what she was doing. Well, my kid hated me for a day. Too bad. I can't tell you how many times he has done some bonehead thing that I had no idea he was doing that I thought I had taught him better. And of course, I would get blamed in the public's eye for being a bad parent had his escapades been made public.

 

[H2Andy]

man, just sad all around

 

[DennisS]

Wow, that's pretty bad. I had to come up once because I noticed my flag being pulled. There wasn't exactly strong current, it was just a boater seeing what the flag was about.

It astonishes me the lack of skill people have in driving boats. It's so easy to get a car driver's license; and you don't need squat to drive a boat. Accidents waiting to happen.

I even had a close call yesterday during safety stop. It looked like a 30 footer from below. Just think, if I didn't do the safety stop, I probably would've been another statistic.

Florida: it's illegal to drive drunk ...but not on boats.

I came up once to have the Coast Guard Auxilliary circling my boat, my dive flag had fallen down and they wanted to tell me it was illegal to dive without a dive flag. Those props looked mighty big spinning from down below.

Florida: it's illegal to drive drunk ...but not on boats


It's illegal to drive a boat drunk too, I've also heard you can lose your drivers license by driving a bicycle drunk. Might be an urban legend

It's so easy to get a car driver's license; and you don't need squat to drive a boat. Accidents waiting to happen.

If you are underage, you are required to take a course, pass a test and carry a card with you to operate a boat. I heard on the news that the 13 year old had his card.

 

[sasscuba]

Very sad....