Fitzsimon File

Be careful driving near the coast this Labor Day weekend, especially if you are one of the many two-lane roads in Eastern North Carolina. You could be run off the road by a trailer towing a boat that's a good bit wider than its lane.

That might happen at night, when it's hard to see what's coming around the curve. The driver might have had a couple of drinks before leaving the marina. The blood alcohol limit is not lower for drivers of the wide boats and massive trailers as it is for commercial vehicles.

The driver won't have to get a permit to send you scrambling to the shoulder either. Any 18-year-old with a driver's license can legally tow a wide boat and trailer.

That was all made possible by a special session of the General Assembly Wednesday morning. State lawmakers voted to override Governor Mike Easley's veto of a bill that relaxes the state's safety laws governing boats and trailers on the road.

The vote wasn't close, 93-7 in the House and only one dissenter in the Senate, Ed Jones, a former member of the Highway Patrol. Jones voted for the bill in the summer session and Wednesday told his colleagues that was a mistake.

Jones said the legislation would endanger the safety of the people of North Carolina for the whim of a few, the folks who can afford the larger boats. That didn't go over well with Senate President Marc Basnight, who debated the bill from the front of the chamber where he was presiding in the absence of Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue.

Basnight said there's been no evidence that the wider boats cause accidents and said the restrictions are a burden for the "responsible people who tow very expensive boats." 

It is also somehow an economic development issue. Basnight and other opponents of the safety regulations point out the boat industry is struggling, though its not clear why the permits aren't sold with the wider boats at the dealerships.

Basnight told the story of a boater in Florida who was ticketed in North Carolina for hauling a wide boat without a permit on the way to a fishing tournament.

The boater didn't receive a ticket in Florida, Georgia, or South Carolina. But those states have the same safety restrictions that North Carolina had until Basnight and his colleagues weakened them. 

Wonder if Basnight thinks that people who drive 85 miles per hour in Florida and Georgia and don't get caught should get a pass to speed in North Carolina too. Or maybe we should just abolish the speed limits altogether.

The session was instructive though. The comments by Jones and Basnight were the only ones made in the Senate. The House didn't allow any debate at all. Rep. Arthur Williams read a prepared statement claiming the issue was about jobs and had nothing to do with safety. Remember that this weekend when you see a boat coming toward you, sticking out across the center line.

Then Williams moved to cut off further debate and the majority of Democrats and Republicans went along, something to remember the next time people complain about the lack of openness in the House. There was a lack of openness Wednesday, but it didn't seem to bother many people in either party.

The safety concerns didn't seem to bother them either. Or the fact that the Highway Patrol believes the new law is dangerous. What do the men and women who spend every day on the state's highways responding to accidents know about safety anyway?

Jones was right. The special session to override Easley's wise veto was about helping out a certain class of people.

The facts are indisputable. The new law allows boats wider than a lane on the roads without a permit. Senator Clark Jenkins owns a marina. He made the motion in the Senate to override the veto.

Reggie Fountain, CEO of Fountain Powerboats, gives a lot of money to politicians. Fountain lives in Beaufort County, represented by Arthur Williams, who made the motion in the House. Funny how that works. 

And most troubling of all, virtually every member of the General Assembly went along with it.  Be careful this weekend.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.