Thoughts on regulating boating on the Thompson River?

I would be most interested in hearing from people who use the river for boating, tubing, water skiing or other water based activities. Your council is considering restricting some water based activities - specifically banning boat tows between the vicinity of Hong Kong beach in Valleyview and the CN rail bridge and posting signs notifyng people of that ban..

Is there enough of a safety issue on the river to justify the increased costs and potential costs to the community if we regulate uses of the river?

Here is a bit of background on how this issue came to council's attention. About a year ago, a Transport Canada representative came to present to council and indicated that he had been approached by users of the river who were becoming increasingly concerned with safety.  I don't know how many people had approached him. He asked council to consider regulating some of the uses of the river. Right now, city hall does not take responsibility to regulate any river activities. If we did, we would assume liability if someone got hurt on the river and thought we did not exercise responsibility in our regulation -eg, if we did not ensure signs notifying people of the rules were maintained properly, etc. Right now, the city assumes no liability.

A committee of council, staff, RCMP, the Kamloops Indian Band and other agencies are working on a proposal that would recommend the posting of signs, and the ban on boat tows.

What do you think? Is there a safety issue on the river? Should we take on the potential liability risk of regulation?

Comments

[Murray Weeres]

I think it is not within the city's mandate to engage in this sort of regulation. As well I think it opens the city up to potential unnecessary liability. Signage and education are probably more appropriate.

[Mike]

I don’t think I like the idea of an outright ban, however this may be a good idea. I can think of a few reasons as a long time boater on the river:

1)It’s never a good idea to be towing around launches and Pioneer and Valleyview are in this area. I wouldn’t say put an outright ban on it that would make the city liable, but maybe put up signs suggesting a now tow or slow speed zone. It’s just good boating manners… do you know how frustrating it is when a wakeboard or ski boat goes by within 25 feet of you when you are trying to get your boat on the trailer? Sometime people just don’t think about that.
2)There is really bad undertow at the native school corner
3)Father up the river near valley view the river is very narrow and has a lot of big rocks up against the steep banks, not too safe for towing.
4)The Dallas area is nice and wide and very safe, with tonnes of room.

Myself I don’t tow a lot of people in that area anyways for these reasons, so I think signs suggesting this would be welcomed by much of the boating community.

[MRW]

There are several reasons that the City should not try to put such bans in place:
1) already considered in your article, is the fact that liability will rest on the City's shoulders should something go awry, signs notwithstanding. As a result, any and every accident on the water will probably result in a lawsuit against the city, something the taxpayers probably do not want their tax dollars paying for.

2) this will open the doors for all sorts of other legislation becoming necessary to ensure 'safety' (i.e. cover the city's butt with respect to litigation), resulting in many more restrictions coming online that are not in the best interests of the taxpayers. I am referring to the popular activity of floating down the river on a tube, that I see scores of teens engaging in every summer. This harmless, social, and fun activity would likely be next on the chopping block of activities, resulting in one less activity for the youth of our city to engage in, and possibly resulting in them turning to perhaps less harmless, social, and fun activities as a replacement.

3) Enforcement seems to involve more than just signage. What would be required is a regular patrol, which will cost money in manpower, fuel, cost of a boat with upkeep....again, an unnecessary cost, given the seemingly low numbers of accidents that occur on the river from year to year.