Common Practice vs Common Sense
November 17, 2008
Boating Accidents
I have frequently been amazed at the justifications defendants have for what are really unjustifiable choices. The title of this blog came to me because of both my personal experience and because of a case I took to trial last year. It was a boating accident on a small Ontario lake where there were a number of cottages. A head on collision took place between two boats on a lake late one night. Neither boat had any running lights on at the time of the collision. One boat did not have lights and the other boats lights were not functional. My client was a passenger in one of the boats.
One of the main defences was the common practice defence. Boating accident lawyers have seen this many times. It was common practice on that lake for cottagers to go out at night without running lights. They often took flashlights to use during navigation through narrow rocky channels. Common sense should tell us that it is always risky and dangerous to operate virtually any vehicle or vessel at night without lights.
It did not seem to matter to the defendant that running lights on a boat serve a much different purpose from headlights on a car. Running lights on a boat are not used to help the operator see forward. They are used in order that other boats can see your boat and determine what direction you are travelling.
The fact that "everybody does it" cannot take personal responsibility away from an individual boat operator. The captain of the ship is responsible for the safety of their passengers, whether it is an ocean liner or a small twelve foot aluminum fishing boat.
It is common sense that a boat on the water at night must be able to be seen by other boats. You might think that my case was unusual. Tragically, it is not. I am fortunate to have my own cottage on a fairly large lake. Our island is about one mile from the nearest marina. Just a few years ago a young teenage boy was killed just in front of our island when his family had a head on collision with another boat. The boy's boat did have lights but could not see the other boat because it did not have lights.
Despite this tragedy - I hear small fishing boats coming in from the main lake after dark almost nightly throughout the summer. We have one cottager that makes a point of stopping these boats and reminding them of the safety issues. He is often met with anger and contempt because "everyone does it". Often these people are operating small rental fishing boats and believe it is perfectly safe to fish until dark and only after the sun has gone down return to the marina. They believe that they can see just fine. But that is not the problem. Even if they can see where they are and could, in the absence of other boats, return to the marina safely, they cannot be sure that there are no boats heading out to cottages. Because of the noise of the motors they cannot rely on their hearing to identify other boats on the lake. It is another tragedy just waiting to happen.
Please, if you operate a boat, either be sure you are in well before dark or be sure that you have the proper running lights. Don't cause yourself, your passengers or other boaters serious injury because you won't use common sense. No one would suggest it is safe to drive a car at night without any lights. Yet it is much easier to predict where oncoming cars will be driving - usually in their own lane and not in yours. There is no such likelihood in a boat. A boat could be coming from any one of the 360 degrees of the circle for which your boat is the centre.
And remember, it doesn't have to be pitch black out for lights to be required safety equipment. Just before sunset and just after sunrise can also be very dangerous times to operate a boat without lights. There is just enough ambient light remaining to give a false sense of security to boaters. They think that because they can see it is still safe to operate their boat. Often it is not. At these times of day a boat is very difficult to see. That is why most legislation deals with a time period before sunset and after sunrise during which lights are still required.
If you have been in a boating accident, call a boating accident lawyer, someone that can insure your rights are protected. As with any personal injury lawyer, boating accident lawyers can be located at through Injury Alliance
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