SB-27 would undermine commonsense speed limits on big lake

To the editor,

We are writing to inform people in the area of an upcoming New Hampshire Senate Bill 27 which would undermine our current commonsense 45/30 speed limits on Winnipesaukee. As you may know, the current 45 MPH day/ 30 MPH night limits were signed into law this summer, following the 45/25 speed limits law of 2009. It drew wide support from area businesses, residents, and boaters because before the speed regulations people were afraid for their safety due to the faster larger boats, personal watercraft, and bass boats that often traveled at speeds of 60, 80 and even 100 miles per hour. From our own experience, boats used to be able to legally go 85 MPH just 150 feet off shore near where we stay.

The proposed change to the law would replace hard and fast numbers with the words "reasonable and prudent". Allowing this kind of boating again would be a terrible mistake. Reasonable and prudent means different things to different people. Can you imagine the chaos if we eliminated speed limits from our roads and highways in NH and let everyone decide for themselves? Here's where absolute numbers make sense. And our present law already includes reasonable and prudent (but no faster than 45 MPH day and 30 MPH night).

Also, we need to remember that the collision energy delivered by a boat traveling at 60 MPH is four times that of a boat traveling at 30 MPH in the event of a crash. The Blizzard accident before the 45/25 Law showed what can happen.

We have speed limits in New Hampshire on our roads and backwoods trails for cars, trucks, ATVs and snowmobiles. We need to keep the 45/30 for boats on our waters.

Other possible changes are higher speed limit numbers or unregulated speeds in the Broads. These similarly would be short sighted. The Broads is the hub of the lake through which people pass to get from one part of the lake to another and to get to their island homes. It is a beautiful area that is a favorite for anglers and sailors. If we raise the limits, then it defeats the purpose of limits to slow the boats down for kayakers, families tooling around on pontoon boats, sailors, campers learning boat skills on the waters, fathers and mothers teaching their kids fishing and other slow moving watercraft who all have the right to use all of Lake Winnipesaukee.

The 45/30 and 45/25 numbers are very fast speeds on waters and have been working well these past 2 years! More and more families, kayakers, rowers, and slower family boaters have been sharing the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee safely, enjoyably and without any high speed accidents!

Please help us preserve this valuable 45/30 law for the families visiting or living near the lake who want to enjoy the waters safely and fairly!

If you agree, I please consider contacting State Senators Jeb Bradley and Jim Forsythe and urge them not to accept this change or to allow higher speeds anywhere on the lake. Urge them NOT to support SB-27, but to support the current 45/30 Law with no changes. They can be contacted at: jeb.bradley@leg.state.nh.us (PH: 271-3073) and james.forsythe@leg.state.nh.us (PH: 271-3096). And contact your other legislators. Or, please send your e-mail with name and NH town of residence to winnfabs@winnfabs.com, the grass roots organization that is working to preserve the 45/30 law.

Carroll Stafford, Laconia

Sandy Stafford, Laconia

Warren Hutchins, Laconia

Mary Hutchins, Laconia