Boat manufacturers are required to install whistles on boats 40 feet in length and over. However, if boats are under 40 feet in length, the manufacturer is not required by law to furnish a whistle or sound making device with the boats. Included in the class of boats which are not required to have whistles installed are not only a large number of conventional boats, but some of the special vessels referred to in the industry as "personal watercraft". These are generally waterjet propelled craft such as Kawasaki's jet ski, Yamaha's Wave Runner, and the Wet Bike.
The inland rules of the road apply to "all vessels upon the inland waters of the United States . . ." (rule 1). A "vessel includes every description of watercraft, including non-displacement craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water." (Rule 3(a)). The international rules contain similar rules.
While these federal rules only apply to "inland waters of the United States", a term which has special significance and excludes many of the waters on which recreational boats are operated, the States have similar rules which apply to waters on which the federal rules do not apply.
Clearly they apply to personal watercraft as well as conventional boats.
Rule 34 requires all power driven vessels to sound certain maneuvering and warning signals when within sight of each other and when within one-half mile. The most important of these signals is the warning signal. It used to be called the danger signal but is now merely referred to as the warning signal which is five short and rapid blasts of the whistle to indicate that the sounding vessel is in doubt whether sufficient action is being taken by the other to avoid collision.
If the vessel is 12 meters (40 feet) or more in length, it is required to have a installed whistle. Vessels less than 12 meters in length need only have an efficient sound signal device. Rule 33.
What is an efficient sound making device? Even though Annex III to the inland rules doesn't apply to vessels under 12 meters in length (see rules 32(a) and 33(a)), the Coast Guard apparently uses the one half nautical mile audible range standard which applies to whistles for vessels under 20 meters in length (but over 12 meters). The audible range is "the range at which a whistle may be heard on its forward axis with 90 percent probability in conditions of still air" on board [another] vessel having average background noise level . . ." between 68 dB and 63 dB.
In fact, they accept a mouth blown police whistle.
While this audible range might be adequate on slow moving vessels with short stopping distances and low background noise, such a standard is totally inadequate on fast recreational boats with high engine and wave background noise. Tests using such a whistle disclosed that persons operating personal watercraft could not hear such devices within one hundred feet because the background noise masks it.
A very real problem with vessels which don't have installed whistles is that when they are needed, they are needed immediately. Boats approaching each other at 30 mph each have a closing speed of one mile each minute. Thus, if the portable sound device could be found immediately and it was only audible for one half mile, this would give the other boat only one half minute to react, IF THEY HEARD IT.
On a "personal watercraft" such as a Jetski, there is no place to store a portable whistle! Of course it could be carried on a string about the neck of the operator but many operators needs both hands to operate many of these craft. Thus the only practical way to have a whistle immediately available is to have it installed when the vessel is manufactured.
An installed whistle could provide a sound which is loud enough to be heard under real life conditions, and which, like a motorcycle horn, is immediately available. This should not be limited to the personal watercraft but should apply to all vessels!
There is one more significant problem with boat operators - they don't know the rules of the road. An estimate by a high placed Coast Guard source indicates that less than 20% know the basic rules. In fact, discussions on this subject with an executive of one of the largest recreational boat manufacturers indicated even he didn't know that efficient sound making devices were required on boats.
The industry knows how their products are operated. They know the need for a whistle. Let's hope it won't take a series of product liability suits to persuade boat manufacturers to install whistles on all boats.
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