My kids were all good swimmers. But when we went in the boat before it started to leave the bank everyone had to put their jackets on. They all knew that and never argued or cried because of it. They were happy to be going in the boat. Whether it was fishing or to the beach.
A mother who cared enough.
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A mother who cared enough.
RIGHT THERE!! That’s better than any law that came out of St Paul! 
It shows in your “kids” FM…but what happened to 
Herb?
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I think this law is B.S. My kids always wear a PFD while Traveling, but they don’t need one while their bobber fishing in some back bay. Driving to the lake on our roadways is more Dangerous than anything else they’ll ever do, has anyone seen what the leading cause of death is for those under 18? Not lack of pfd use, drugs or alcohol use,Wheelin or snowmobiling, its Auto Accidents.
While I understand the sentiment of your post and some of the others, I believe there is another side to the equation that people are not necessarily considering. Before I go there I need to disagree with the portion of your post that listed automobile accidents as the leading cause of death and excluded alcohol and drug use. I think if you go back and research the number of accidents that were alcohol and drug related you’d be amazed at the number. Are all automobile accidents caused by alcohol and drugs? No but the number is noteworthy.
I believe adults have the right to make their own decisions about what they do. I don’t really have a problem with people being idiots and suffering the consequences as long as the consequence does not include harming children or people I care about. Part of the reason that children are being asked to wear lifejackets is because adults who make their own decisions make stupid decisions that result in the death or harm to children that are in their watercraft or an accident caused by someone else not the parent of the child. How many times have you seen a boat load of idiots exercizing their rights running jet skiis too close to a canoe? A large boat shutting down or running so close to kids in a boat bobber fishing that the wake would throw someone over board? A pontoon boat full of drunken adults laughing and giggling but not paying attention to little 4 yr. old Johnny or Julie? Or the 14 foot alumnicraft with 8 people in it… 6 adults and 2 children… the boat is so over weighted that a shift to one side would sink the boat. In those situations, its the adults that made the decision that affects the child. I’m not saying I agree with over regulation, it many ways I hate more government intrusions but I do understand the logic in this one. When you add in the fact that the majority of people complaining about the need for pdfs for children seem to those living in heavy metro areas you begin to also understand why they would be complaining. Have you ever been to Lake Minnetonka during the weekend? If you have or had, you’d begin to understand why this law makes sense. By 10:00 am, with no wind what-so-ever, the waves by the Oreno bridge are genuine 4 footers coming from all different directions because of the amount of boat traffic. Its not a safe place to have children in a small or even medium sized boat during those times. My own personal opinion is the lake or waterway should be individually regulated according to the level of use and historical perspective on accidents, deaths, etc. The law makers won’t go that direction because the landowners and local vendors for a variety of products complain about the economic impact of regulations that single out certain regions. The end result is a broad based regulation that effects everyone even though it appears to much more applicable in specific regions rather than the entire state.
Anyway… I just wanted to bring a couple other perspectives forward. To each his own long as your each does not harm my own we’ll be fine hahaha.
Curt
I see both side of this.
Speed limits are laws but most people are not stopped till they are going 10-15 mph faster than the law. I keep it 6-8 mph faster than posted. I am breaking the law, my choice.
But I NEVER let my 2 and 5 year olds in the boat without their likejackets.
I do not care if it is 50 degrees or 105. They are wearing PFDs. Thats my choice.
Ron
If herb told you what happened to herb, he’d probably get banned from the site.
Life jackets are a good thing. They keep your head above water so you can see those little ‘tootsie rolls’ floating downstream towards you and you have time to swim off to the side.
At least that’s the reason I gave my kids.
That’s my thought too Herb, Whatever it takes…. 
Two things:
1) Kids should were life jackets, no one is disputing that, the question is whether it should a law or not. I can see certain circumstances where I would allow my child to remove a life jacket and I dont want the govt telling me that I cannot.
2) I just cringe everytime I hear the phrase “if it saves just one life” BS! If that is the case, ban hunting, ban fishing, make cars that cant exceed 5mph. If we set up new laws everytime there is an accident we will never be allowed to do anything. No bath tubs sold that can hold more than 2″ of water???? Life is dangerous, people die, there are tradegies-we cant make life 100% safe and maintain our precious freedom.
wow , this is geting to be touchy 
DaveB’s post reads like a well reasoned deliberation. If ya wanna see touchy, go back a page and find where 2Fishy gets called paranoid. 
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DaveB’s post reads like a well reasoned deliberation. If ya wanna see touchy, go back a page and find where 2Fishy gets called paranoid.
I really wanna hear Dave B read his post using his Cartman voice from South Park! God, he’s good!
Hey Daveb…no voices please! I hear enough of them in my head already…. 
I hear you about the “just one life” thing…although the rest of that statement might be a little extreme…for even me!
Help me understand your point.
No one is arguing the point that kids should wear pfd’s. Then what differance does it make whether it’s a law or not? I’m trying to think of a time that my daughter would have to take off her pfd in a moving boat…except for putting warmer or cooler cloths on…what else is there?
I’m not trying to “win” an agrument…just trying to see another persons point of view…
Ps…both my dogs have “chips” in them… (JK) 
I have no arguements with the idea of enforcing safe habits on the water. Making it a law though????
Nobody has touched on my earlier question so I’ll reword and repeat it. If they wrote the law to allow exceptions for when a boat is at anchor for the purpose of swimming or diving, will an enforcement officer then ticket the boater for allowing a child to take off their PFD when they are anchored for the purpose of fishing?
It seems strange that it would be alright to take the PFD’s off for jumping out of the boat and into the water, which is where people drown, but not to allow them to take the PFD’s off for the purpose of sitting in the boat, with the intention of staying out of the water! 
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will an enforcement officer then ticket the boater for allowing a child to take off their PFD when they are anchored for the purpose of fishing?
I can UN offically answer that. The answer is no ticket. The the key word in the law is “while underway”.
I don’t really understand the thought behind “swimming or diving” either…
Here’s the actuall law:
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H.F. No. 590, as introduced – 84th Legislative Session (2005-2006) Posted on Jan 31, 2005
1.1 A bill for an act
1.2 relating to natural resources; requiring lifejackets
1.3 for children aboard watercraft; amending Minnesota
1.4 Statutes 2004, section 86B.501, by adding a
1.5 subdivision.
1.6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
1.7 Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 86B.501, is
1.8 amended by adding a subdivision to read:
1.9 Subd. 3. [LIFEJACKET REQUIRED FOR CHILDREN.] (a) No person
1.10 may operate a watercraft under way with a child under 13 years
1.11 of age aboard unless the child is:
1.12 (1) wearing an appropriate personal flotation device
1.13 approved under subdivision 1; or
1.14 (2) below the top deck or in an enclosed cabin.
1.15 (b) Paragraph (a) does not apply to commercial watercraft
1.16 where the child is a passenger and the operator is licensed by
1.17 the state of Minnesota or the United States Coast Guard to carry
1.18 passengers for hire.
From the East Central Review….
A little more about what happened…
Tragedy on Rush Lake
By MaryHelen Swanson
Tragedy hit the area during the Memorial Day holiday celebration when a five-year-old boy died of drowning on West Rush Lake.
Grant Allen Jestus, of Blaine, fell from a moving boat driven by his father near Mattson’s Landing around 5 p.m., Saturday, May 24.
His body was recovered in 11 feet of water approximately 75 yards from shore nearly 2 hours later.
The boy was taken by ambulance to a site by Tanger Outlet Center where he was transferred to a Life Link III air ship and taken to Hennepin County Medical Center.
When the boy was found in the lake, paramedics immediately began resuscitation in the ambulance on shore. At the hospital, the attempt was made to revive the child using a modern slow-warming method which has in some instances been successful in reviving young children.
Jestus was pronounced dead at 11 p.m.
According to Chisago County Deputy Keith Hoppe, who was in charge of the rescue operation, the boat was moving in a slow, no-wake area in the south bay.
The water temperature was 67 and the lake was very weedy in that area. The boy was not wearing his lifejacket at the time he fell into the water, Hoppe said.
Hoppe said no one in the area reported seeing a child in the water.
With local officials on the scene, nearby residents in boats and pontoons helped searched the lake at first. Members of the Isanti County Dive and Rescue Team made attempts to locate the boy.
A Minnesota State Patrol helicopter arrived and circled the bay area with a thermal imaging camera, which senses heat.
The helicopter search was not successful.
About an hour and a half into the search the rescue effort turned to the fairly new process crafted by Chisago County water patrol.
It entails securing five boats side-by-side and slowly moving backward dragging a wire device by hand.
The search team was on the second pass when the boy was found.
He was immediately taken to shore and carried to the ambulance. Deputy Hoppe drove the ambulance to North Branch.
The Chisago County Sheriff’s Department, Isanti County Dive and Rescue Team, the Minnesota DNR, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Rush City Fire Department and Lakes Region EMS all responded to the scene.
Several of the neighbors along the lake have placed flowers on the dock and a floating wreath has been set in the lake to remember the little boy. According to a neighbor, Jestus loved the water.
The funeral service for Grant Jestus is 2 p.m., Thursday, May 29 at Salem Covenant Church in New Brighton.
Floatation devices a must
Approved personal floatation devices (PFD) or lifejackets are required for all waters within and bordering Minnesota.
A readily accessible U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket must be on board all boats for each person on board.
New Federal regulations require that children under 13 (not in a cabin or below deck) must wear a PFD on all recreational boats while underway on waters subject to federal jurisdiction such as the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers, Lake Superior, etc.
Additionally, all life jackets must be in serviceable condition, free of tears, rot, punctures and water-logging.
Type IV throwable devices, such as buoyant cushions, are no longer acceptable primary lifesaving devices.
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Ps…both my dogs have “chips” in them… (JK)
Your lucky, I have not figured it out yet, but some how my wife has planted one of these Chips in me and not only does she know where I’m at she knows where I’m going before I do… 
I just did a Google search it may be the new Intel “spoilmyfun” chip….
One example….ok, lets say I am trolling 1 mph on my Grandma’s lake in their pontoon boat where I am often the only boat on the water. Calm summer day, 90 degrees, it is 8 years from now and my now 13 year old daughter(and member of the high school swim team as a 8th grader) wants to get a tan and lay on the deck of the pontoon boat.
We are barely moving, she is in the center of the boat, surrounded by railing and in eyesight of me. If I dont let her take off her life jacket, then she would rather stay on the rickety old, narrow dock and fall asleep tanning there, alone, instead of in the boat with me. Where is she at more risk?
Thanks Brian. I had not seen the actual wording till now.
I never used to wear a life jacket ….untill we bought a new house that had a pool ,The water temp was 72 and I slowly walked in whimpering like a little girl about how cold it was, after thrashing the never ending 32 ft to the other end…..It made me stop and think ,what in my wildest imagination led me to believe I could fall out of a boat doing 40mph in 35 degree temp river water and swim to shore.
Now I have a really nice PFD and wear it a lot
Good example Dave…never thought about pontoons. Minor tech thoughts here…if she is 13, she wouldn’t have to wear one. No law is 100% perfect…however, a typical dock is in shallow water…and I too would rather have my daughter with me if for no other reason than bonding.
As for being on the swim team…darn near every year at graduation time someone drownds or we have a near drownding on the Croix from 17 – 18 year olds thinking they could swim from an island to shore. I would have to find the articals, but at least two of the ones that died in the last 5 years were excellent swimmers. (alcohal involved).
I guess my point here would be…for every 1 situation that a pdf wouldn’t be comfortable, there’s 10 situations were they should be worn. (again…In my opinion)
Tony,what make and model is it?
PierBridge
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I have not figured it out yet, but some how my wife has planted one of these Chips in me
OOOKAAAY!
I’d been wondering; even concerned
BUT
That explains a lot 
Brian, can I borrow your soapbox for a moment?…This may sound a little harsh and may be an unpopular spin on the situation but my thinking is that we have a lot of laws because we have a lot of stupid people. Some laws are designed to protect people from themselves (right or wrong) and some laws are designed to protect the innocent and the vulnerable from the stupid people on the planet.
A child doesn’t get to pick his parents. As luck would have it, some kids get stuck with stupid parents (maybe some of you have run into these folks on the water or at your local Walmart?). Maybe a law such as this will encourage ALL parents to do the right thing and put a life jacket on their child. If you’re a kid with stupid parents, you can thank your law-makers for this one.
Brian, you can have your soapbox back now. Try to keep it out of the hands of the unruly. 
Wade, not only can you borrow my soap box…but you can borrow my pdf.. not the one I’m wearing thou.
I was on the swim team in high school…but that was 30 plus years and a belly ago…I need my pdf.
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but that was 30 plus years and a belly ago
With the belly I’ve developed lately I’d either sink like a pig or float like a whale. Guess we’ll find out this summer when I try out my new speedo! 
Are you getting the PDF Speedo…with the “auto inflate”? 
I think that the idea behind the law is good. But even with laws, I still see lots of kids with out life jackets on while in boats, or playing/fishing on piers. Last weekend while out musky fishing, I saw lots of ways where a kid could have been in need of a life jacket – one that stuck in my head the most was a little boy playing on the very edge of a pier. He couldn’t have been more then three. He was throwing rocks out in to the lake as hard as he could. THERE WAS NOT ONE SINGLE ADULT IN SIGHT. I did yell at the kid and asked where his mom was at and he just took off into the house.
I am posting a pic of one of a past student who got to come over and fish with Ms. Cheri. The child is wearing a life jacket because that is my “rule”. If the child comes fishing with me and doesn’t have a life jacket – I will buy them one, but they must have one on – even if it is just to be on a pier.
Just talked to CO he said even when anchored the kiddies must have a jacket on, he told me to read the rule again
and take note of the exceptions.
SUMMARY:
• Requires life jacket to be worn by children less than 10 years of age when aboard watercraft in Minnesota when the craft is under way (not tied up at a dock or permanent mooring).
Exemptions from wearing:
• When in an enclosed cabin or below the top deck on a watercraft
• When on an anchored boat that is a platform for swimming or diving
• When aboard a charter (passenger) craft with a licensed captain.
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