08-27-1990 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Figure 2. Percentage of respondents who have takeii a safety course 12 - c o £ 0 1uI 10 - 8- 6- 4 - 2- 0-*- MNDNR USCGA USPowsr Othei Boating Safety Course* MNONR 3 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources USCGA 3 U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary USPower 3 U. S. Power Squadrons Other 3 Red Cross, U.S. military, Scouts, private club, etc. indicates that metro region boaters were only slightly more likely to view boating behavior as a more serious problem. But they were much more likely than boat ow ners in either the north or souih regions to view boaung numbers and cnforcemer.t of regulations as problems. This indicates there may be more safety-related problems in the metro region lakes and rivers. Boat owners who had completed a boating safety course are also more likely to view the boating behavior of others as a problem, and they aie more likely to view these problems as severe. Some of the boat owners’ respon.se*: regard ing boaung behavior of others and the number of boaters on Minnesota lakes and rivers may be related to aesthetic as well as safety reasons. But there seems to be a strong indication that boat owners view the.se as problems that need to be addrcs.scd to improve safety and boating quality. Management Actions to Improve Safety Minncsoui boat owners support improving boating safety through stricter regulation of certain boating activities and improved boating facilities. Figure 4 indicates that the safety measu.es preferred by at least 50% of the state boat owners arc: restrict the speed of boats on heavily used lakcsand rivers (80% support, 10% oppose, 10% no cpiii n);rcsu-ict certain types of boating to speciiic parts of heavily used lakes and rivers (64% support, 18% oppose); enforce safety regulations more aggre.ssi\cly (58% support, 15% oppose); increa.se penalties for violating boaung rules and regulations (58% support. 17% oppose); and provide protected harbors on large lakes such as Supenor and .Vlille Lacs (52% support. 10% oppose). Several additional safety management steps received support from 40% to 50% of the boat owners, and litUc opposition. For e.xamplc. 48% favored requiring boaters under 12 years of age to wear a personal llotauon device (36% opposed); 42%? fa vored development of suicter safety regu lations (25% opposed); and 47% favored rcstncting certain types of boating to spe cific limes of the day on heavily used lakes and rivers (31% opposed this measure). Mccro region boat owners generally were the most supportive of increased regulation and enforcement on Minnesota lakes and rivers. The seven most-supported manage ment safety steps in Figure 4 all received stronger support from meU’O region boat owners than from those in the other regions (with the e.xccpuon of “protected har bors”). Eighty-four percent of the meyo respondenLs supported resuiciing speed of boats, compared with 76% in the north and 16% in the souJi. .Mcuo respondents were also more supporu vc of increased penalties for boaung law infractions (64% meuo, 52% north, 55% south) and more aggres sive enforcement of btiaiing regulations (65% metro, 50% north, 54% south). Metro respondents also supporter! restricting boating use to certain limes of the day and developing stricter boating regulations more than did respondents from the other Figure 3. Boat owners' perceptions of safety problems 1 Enforcement of boating regulations mmmmmmm I;:: ' .'i. -o. A . Number of boaters mmmmmmm^ 51 B Northj 70 □ Metro 1 57 EJ South B Slate mwMmmmmmmmm Boating behavior of 1 others 20 40 60 80 Percent of Boat Owners Indicating Problem