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Serious News
11-26-2014, 12:33 PM
I-Team: Drivers with histories of DUIs involved in dozens of fatal alcohol-related boat crashes
No boater's license in Florida may be cause
By: Adam Walser

Video and Graphs: http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/i-team-drivers-with-histories-of-duis-involved-in-dozens-of-fatal-alcohol-related-boat-crashes

RIVERVIEW, Fla. - In Florida, laws keep drunk drivers off our highways by taking away their licenses.

But what keeps those same people from operating boats?

As the I-Team discovered, currently, there’s not much.

“As it escalated, a couple of more beers, I was like ‘This is really bad. We need to go home,’” said Mariah Perez-Gonzalez, describing terrifying moments on the Fourth of July aboard a boat when she was seven months pregnant. “The boat hit the mangroves and kind of spun into them."

The boat driver died.

“We got a water accident. We're at a dock,” came the frantic 911 call on the night Martin County firefighter Chip O’Hara was killed in 2005.

A drunk boater ran over him while he was riding on a jet ski.

“They said he bled to death because of the injury to his leg,” said Carolyn Clarke, his mother.

Both deaths were caused by impaired Florida boaters with histories of drunk driving.

The I-Team has uncovered that last year nearly 50 percent of people involved in fatal boating accidents had a DUI history, and one out of 10 fatal boat crashes involved someone who was not allowed to drive a car at the time because of prior DUIs.

“According to Coast Guard statistics, alcohol use was the leading contributing factor in boating fatalities in 2013,” U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Holly Deal said.

The I-Team discovered dozens of Florida boaters have been arrested for driving under the influence and have also been involved in BUI incidents.

Sean McCarthy, Perez-Gonzalez’s neighbor who was driving the boat that day, was among them.

He had been convicted of five prior DUIs and a just-released report we obtained shows McCarthy had a blood alcohol level of three times the legal limit at the time of the crash.

Perez-Gonzalez said she didn’t have any idea he had been drinking before she and her husband got on board the boat for what was supposed to be a short ride to find a good fishing spot.

“You can get DUIs and lose your driver's license, but ‘I'm still gonna go out on a boat and party and drink.’ It's not good. They need to have better laws for that,” Perez-Gonzalez said.

Wally Rothe, who was convicted of BUI in O'Hara's death, had two prior DUI convictions.

“It makes no sense to me. You shouldn't have the right if you've lost it to drive a car,” Clarke said.

Sixty-two people died in Florida boat crashes last year and more than 300 boaters were charged with BUI.

But none lost their boating license, because there's no such thing.

“If you get a DUI, I think it should affect your boating privileges. Or if you get a BUI, it should affect your driver's license,” Perez-Gonzalez said.

“There are no rules connecting the two,” said attorney Gerald Rhoden, who defends clients charged with BUIs and DUIs.

He doesn't believe what happens on the water should be tied to driving privileges.

“To connect the dots between all crimes would be to rule out everything,” he said.

“I think a lot of people in Florida think that it's different on a boat. I know I never really gave it much thought until my accident,” Perez-Gonzalez said.

In response to our investigation, a lawmaker is proposing legislation that links boating and driving privileges, a measure that would require mandatory training for boaters.

Ratickle
11-27-2014, 11:21 AM
"The I-Team has uncovered that last year nearly 50 percent of people involved in fatal boating accidents had a DUI history, and one out of 10 fatal boat crashes involved someone who was not allowed to drive a car at the time because of prior DUIs."

I'm a bit surprised at that number, nearly 50%???

fund razor
11-27-2014, 12:42 PM
"The I-Team has uncovered that last year nearly 50 percent of people involved in fatal boating accidents had a DUI history, and one out of 10 fatal boat crashes involved someone who was not allowed to drive a car at the time because of prior DUIs."

I'm a bit surprised at that number, nearly 50%???

I hate editorials that appear in the news section. Especially poorly researched, poorly argued ones. They prey on the stupid to get an emotional reaction.
Their graph does not include the prior DUI data. It only shows alcohol-related vs. fatality. But it is on a 600 incident scale, which is impossible to read in detail.

"Nearly 50%." Does that mean 49.9?
42? 38?
We don't get to know, because the editorialist doesn't provide the data or the source. The boater license lobby in Florida should get their money back.

An editorialist on the other side of the issue might have said "Less than 50%."

But "nearly 50%" is more likely to make the reader jump to 50% in their mind.

The laws that the "I-Team" proposes don't stop people from getting multiple DUIs as it is.

No boater's license may be the cause.
Um, yeah... but didn't the people who got DUIs in a car have a license? Oh, yeah. That's right. Tell a few more fatality stories.
That may help distract people from your sucky logic, I-Team.

If they wanted to make the case that boater's licenses may be beneficial for safety, there would be parallels to draw from cars, too. But they chose the easy, emotional route. A boater's license may ensure certain knowledge is memorized prior to the test, but the presence or absence of a valid boater's license means nothing to the starter switch, starter bendix, flywheel, or spark. Nor does it ultimately prevent specific behavior, like drunk boating.

Education would help those who chose to be reached, however.
Why not reduce or eliminate state registration fees for those who have taken certain approved seamanship and safety classes?
Would the state rather clean up messes at great expense and loss than forgo a small fee to increase prevention?
Wouldn't insurance companies have a considerable budget return on underwriting it?

No. More license. More fees. More laws. More regulations.
Like the idiots on the I-Team point out, it didn't work for cars either.

Time to think outside the box if safety, rather than increased regulation, is truly the aim.

Ratickle
11-27-2014, 01:01 PM
Time to think outside the box if safety, rather than increased regulation, is truly the aim.

For both cars and boats?

fund razor
11-27-2014, 03:22 PM
Yes. Start by removing the red light cameras.

Ratickle
11-28-2014, 01:31 PM
That's one entrapment I don't have too much of a problem with. But, if they give tickets on going through on yellow, then I do. There is not way they can accurately measure the other conditions related to driving through a light on yellow without complete observation of all criteria from all directions..

fund razor
11-28-2014, 01:39 PM
Red light cameras are revenue producing devices that pose as safety devices.
Fortunately, state supreme court justices who have read and understand the constitution are outlawing them in many communities.

Ratickle
11-29-2014, 11:31 AM
What about stop signs?:)

fund razor
11-29-2014, 11:52 AM
Stops signs: good.
Stop sign cameras: bad.

Ratickle
11-29-2014, 01:07 PM
http://www.myfwc.com/media/2804491/2013-BoatingStatistics-review.pdf