Well......it happened again! :(

[JJ1]

When in bigger water I tag along with my 18 foot seayak.........as least there's something big to come up near, and if they hit it - I have the law on my side as it's an unpowered vessel and they have to manouver around it.......hopefuly if hit it does enough damage to identify them (or even better let me participate in their rescue.....so they feel guilty, charged, and thankful.........)

 

[uwhooligan]

I was diving there today and spoke with a couple of the South Simcoe Police who are in charge of the area. They had a partial ID on the boat and were searching the coast. One officer said that it was unfortunate that no law regarding diveflags exists and he also had taken the watercraft exam himself for personal use and found little mention of it. Another problem they faced was they only have two boats to patrol their entire area and yesterday, unfortunately, had another fatality when a boat overturned in Cooks bay. While they were attending to that mishap the call from Big Bay Point was made. Quite a tragic weekend for all those involved.
We did use an extra diveflag today and hugged the bottom the last 60 metres to the dock but its hard to go any deeper than 6 feet at that point and even then your skimming the 'kelp'
The point earlier in the thread about not diving there is possibly an idea but I've also seen BBP on a summer day with upwards of 30 kids jumping, diving (the nonscuba kind) and even ramping their BMX bikes off the dock. They dont wear anything save their swimtogs nor use any flags of anykind, Lifejackets were reserved to help float the BMX bikes.
Laws will only work if enforced anyway. It seems the biggest problem is lack of awareness, I don't think anyone is setting out on a afternoon boat ride with intention of running over anyone. Maybe a partial solution would be to have marinas and docks post sign awareness charts.
Personally Im going to make my self a 'diveflag barge' with a decent sized flag, and maybe add a strobe light or two. And while Im at it, pen another letter to my MPP and MP.

Even if the find the boat, I'm not sure what law they could pin him with. Dive flags have no legal standing in Ontario. From a boaters point of view, most of the flags we fly (mine included) are nearly useless anyway. If you're downwind of the flag, you've got a 1/4" pole sticking up with a bit of flutter on it. Some of the red/yeelow inflatable floats are a little more visible, but not much better. At 6"30, looking up sun (maybe) approaching a DOCK (after all, boats tie up at docks) and not expecting divers to be underneath you.

 

[scubagirl15]

uwhooligan,
When you're done penning that letter, do you mind sharing it on the board? Maybe we can all sign a copy and flood our MPPs' fax and e-mail with it.

The Canadian government is so fond of distancing itself from the Americans, yet dive flags are mostly recognized south of the border.

I've also thought for some time now that perhaps we should ideally always have a surface dive supervisors...armed with a megaphone. If the government is willing to let boaters use our dive buoys for sport, we can at least take matters into our own hands and literally shout these ignorant boaters away from the buoys?

 

[pufferfish]

And while Im at it, pen another letter to my MPP and MP.

You might want to c.c. that letter to:

Dr. Barry McLellan
Chief Coroner of Ontario
200-26 Grenville St.
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 2G9

 

[mk2]

I would appreciate it if you were able to share any letter(s) in the past and present people have written about this subject. I would like to send something to my mpp and mp about this and a well written letter would be a great place to start for me.

 

[Sirius Diver]

I would appreciate it if you were able to share any letter(s) in the past and present people have written about this subject. I would like to send something to my mpp and mp about this and a well written letter would be a great place to start for me.

Maybe we could all work on creating a letter together and start flooding our Government...

 

[NorthernMelody]

Tell me something, if a guy driving a car ran over someone because they ignored what they were doing and where they were, would it be up to the family to decide to punish him?

Lock the ****er up for vehicular assault! I have no pity for those idiots.

Drives of vehicles driving under the influence or driving dangerously can be charged with vehicular homicide. That seems more appropriate to me. I'm coming into this thread late, but my condolences to the freinds, family, and fellow divers who have been permanently scared due to this incident.

 

[sparky30]

Tell me something, if a guy driving a car ran over someone because they ignored what they were doing and where they were, would it be up to the family to decide to punish him?

Lock the ****er up for vehicular assault! I have no pity for those idiots.

Actually, assuming the act was not premeditated, if this were a road incident, the person would most likely be charged with careless driving.. Max penalty is 6 months in jail and/or $2000 fine.. The only difference is that if this were a car, your insurance would (most likely) get cancelled, and you would be put into the 'facility' where your annual insurance premiums would most likely be around $12K / year for the next 6 years..
BTW.. Interesting side note.. Careless riving is very vague.. you could get charged for talking on your cell phone while driving..Just something to keep in mind.

 

[sparky30]

uwhooligan,
I've also thought for some time now that perhaps we should ideally always have a surface dive supervisors...QUOTE]

That actually sounds like a good idea.. if this dive would have been a boat dive instead of a shore dive, someone would have been on board the boat to warn off other idiot boaters..
Maybe having someone on shore watching/supervising is a good idea.. if nothing else, they could keep an eye of for boaters and get the registration numbers and accurate decription of any offenders..

 

[FreeFloat]

Personally Im going to make my self a 'diveflag barge' with a decent sized flag, and maybe add a strobe light or two.

Guess I'll drag out and dust off my own flag float which is built onto a surfer's bodyboard....... I had been beginning to regard it as "too big"................

I dive Big Bay Point somewhat regularly, being the nearest site with any decent depth.......