New law requires boating safety course for New Yorkers
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Friday requiring powerboat operators to pass a safety course, but some advocates are already working to get a tougher law passed next year.
The law, passed in light of several well-publicized fatal accidents in the United States last year, will require people 18 and younger to pass a boater safety course, starting in May. Critics say it will be decades before the requirement covers all powerboaters, according to Newsday.
The legislature passed the law in June, nearly a year after an accident that drew national attention: the drowning of three children in Oyster Bay on the night of July Fourth in 2012 when a cabin cruiser capsized.
Paul Gaines, whose daughter Victoria died in that accident, told Newsday that the law is "a very small step in the right direction."
