lamont
Contributor
The problem is that if the government steps in they're likely to mandate that I wear a snorkel, and not mandate that I'm taught to do skills while neutrally buoyant.
Would Government Regulation of Diving Be So Bad?
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Don Burke
Contributor
Have you ever seen the price tag for a day of helicopter operation?Xanthro:
Figure something like five hundred to two thousand dollars a flight hour, plus paying the aircrew.
On second thought, maybe government licensing of _instructors_ would be a good idea.
Don Burke
Contributor
They do not need a license requirement to do such things.lamont:
I worked for the government for 15 years. I think they start out with good intentions, but somewhere along the way of actually putting those intentions into play, something gets misdirected and then everything gets warped out of recognition, let alone feasiblity.
I really do not believe having the government control or manage any facet of diving, other than equipment standards like DOT ratings on tanks, would be a good idea.
I really do not believe having the government control or manage any facet of diving, other than equipment standards like DOT ratings on tanks, would be a good idea.
Just one thing to say.....DMV
Scuba has become more popular in recent years, producing more new divers who are more apt to make more mistakes that may or may not be harmful or fatal. If they are fatal, the mistakes are usually to themselves. There are inherent dangers in diving. We all should know and acknowledge the dangers.
Which government(s) would agree on global training standards? Feasability aside, I do not think that any government agency would be better than private agencies. The government (from what I have seen, USAR) tends to take something simple and complicate it. If you had to set standards, where would they be? The US Army (at least they did) breaks the basic training standards down to the lowest common denominator in order to train the most people to standard. We used to say there are three ways to do something, the right way, the wrong way and the Army way.
Then the issue of budgets would have to be addressed. Where would the money come from, globally? Once we have the training program settled, there would be the enforcement of the licensing, so that the guy who is licensed doesn't get air filled for his unlicensed buddy. What would the penalties be?
In short, I do not agree that government should be involved with scuba licensing. Private agencies are better equipped in my opinion to handle the task. They are already doing so and it seems to work to me.
Which government(s) would agree on global training standards? Feasability aside, I do not think that any government agency would be better than private agencies. The government (from what I have seen, USAR) tends to take something simple and complicate it. If you had to set standards, where would they be? The US Army (at least they did) breaks the basic training standards down to the lowest common denominator in order to train the most people to standard. We used to say there are three ways to do something, the right way, the wrong way and the Army way.
Then the issue of budgets would have to be addressed. Where would the money come from, globally? Once we have the training program settled, there would be the enforcement of the licensing, so that the guy who is licensed doesn't get air filled for his unlicensed buddy. What would the penalties be?
In short, I do not agree that government should be involved with scuba licensing. Private agencies are better equipped in my opinion to handle the task. They are already doing so and it seems to work to me.
I can"t think of ANYTHING that the government has gotten involved in that didn't get worse. PLEASE DON'T HELP ME, BIG BROTHER!!!
cyklon_300
Contributor
community, I think federal oversight of sport diving would be a splendid idea.
The agency I work for is an absolute model of efficiency and effective enforcement of rules and regulations. A similar scuba bureaucracy would get the US on the right road to diving properly and protecting the general public.
The first thing the new Federal Underwater Commission could do is legally require the use of DIR standards. That would solve most of the problems immediately. No more snorkels, pink stuff, split fins, jacket bcs.
After registering with the FUC, you be given the equivalent of an N-number to be stenciled on all your cylinders for ID purposes and would be required to file dive profiles with Dive Traffic Control. Divers on eastbound headings would be assigned depths at odd numbered tens of feet, westbound at even tens...
The Enforcement Division would be empowered to cite violators for deviations from the rules for equipment choices, diving below 60' without AOW cert, rapid ascents, deep air diving, silting, etc.
The possibilities for this idea are endless. I would request an immediate transfer as soon as the new agency was created...
The agency I work for is an absolute model of efficiency and effective enforcement of rules and regulations. A similar scuba bureaucracy would get the US on the right road to diving properly and protecting the general public.
The first thing the new Federal Underwater Commission could do is legally require the use of DIR standards. That would solve most of the problems immediately. No more snorkels, pink stuff, split fins, jacket bcs.
After registering with the FUC, you be given the equivalent of an N-number to be stenciled on all your cylinders for ID purposes and would be required to file dive profiles with Dive Traffic Control. Divers on eastbound headings would be assigned depths at odd numbered tens of feet, westbound at even tens...
The Enforcement Division would be empowered to cite violators for deviations from the rules for equipment choices, diving below 60' without AOW cert, rapid ascents, deep air diving, silting, etc.
The possibilities for this idea are endless. I would request an immediate transfer as soon as the new agency was created...
Wristshot
Contributor
Once again, thank you Uncle Pug for a good chuckle in a brief witty response.
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I can't believe that it took 35 posts for anyone to mention the DMV. How do people drive where you live? Here in the San Francisco Bay Area it is insane, and the majority of these people were licensed by a govt agency. Think about this the next time you are driving home from work.
Setting standards is great. Testing to ensure that people can comply with those standards is fine also, but I am not anxious to pay the price for the luxury of having to prove that I know how to dive.
In California we have smog laws. We have to get our cars tested for smog output every two years, and we pay a price for that. And yet, if your car passes the test, but you don't have the govt approved stuff under your hood, they make you pay to get the stuff installed, even if that stuff makes your car "worse" (seen it happen!). So we know that it is not really the pollutants they are trying to eliminate. What they are trying to do is a mystery.
Bureaucrats live to create bureaucracies. There are few things in this world that we couldn't make worse with significant govt involvement.
I love my country, even though we sometimes do some incredibly stupid things. However, I would prefer that they not get any more involved in my recreational diving than they already are.
The only successful US govt controlled thing that I can think of in the recent past would be the US Postal Service Team at the Tour De France. (Why was the US postal service sponsoring a bike team in foreign countries anyway? Can the people in France and Italy even use the US Postal system? but I digress)
Wristshot
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I can't believe that it took 35 posts for anyone to mention the DMV. How do people drive where you live? Here in the San Francisco Bay Area it is insane, and the majority of these people were licensed by a govt agency. Think about this the next time you are driving home from work.
Setting standards is great. Testing to ensure that people can comply with those standards is fine also, but I am not anxious to pay the price for the luxury of having to prove that I know how to dive.
In California we have smog laws. We have to get our cars tested for smog output every two years, and we pay a price for that. And yet, if your car passes the test, but you don't have the govt approved stuff under your hood, they make you pay to get the stuff installed, even if that stuff makes your car "worse" (seen it happen!). So we know that it is not really the pollutants they are trying to eliminate. What they are trying to do is a mystery.
Bureaucrats live to create bureaucracies. There are few things in this world that we couldn't make worse with significant govt involvement.
I love my country, even though we sometimes do some incredibly stupid things. However, I would prefer that they not get any more involved in my recreational diving than they already are.
The only successful US govt controlled thing that I can think of in the recent past would be the US Postal Service Team at the Tour De France. (Why was the US postal service sponsoring a bike team in foreign countries anyway? Can the people in France and Italy even use the US Postal system? but I digress)
Wristshot
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