The powers to be are going to propose a lower BUI limit on Lanier and they think this will solve all the accidents and problems that occur on the lake.

Now with that said, I am not against lowering the limit. But coming from being out on the water every weekend and several weeknights a year, I can definitely tell you they need to start with boating education and safety first. It’s like the Wild West out there on any given weekend; speed, incompetent driving skills and those who just plain don’t know how to navigate a boat, much less operate their boat while being around several thousand people.

There are passing rules, overtaking rules and especially rules about pulling a child on a tube through the direct path of an upcoming boat. This should be common sense but these days it is not. No wake means no wake, not “I’ll start to plain out 20 yards from the buoy and swamp all the other boats around me.”

It needs to start with education and knowing how to operate a boat. Not all of the recent accidents have been alcohol-related.

Now with my rant finished, please do not think the problem will be magically solved when the alcohol limit is lowered; it will not be. It needs to go a couple steps further with education and safety.

Earl Brooks
Gainesville