Editorial wants the Government to put an upper limit on rafting water levels

Part of me is against this, part of me is not sure.

An article Time For Sensible Whitewater Rafting Regulation has postulated that the state should tell whitewater rafters in West Virginia at what water levels they can open rafting to commercial customers. Part of my concern is the reasoning that the state has or is the expert in whitewater rafting. We all know that is not true. When you are the power to arrest or fine or limit, a government and/or individual always abuses those powers.

Commercial operators want to make money so they may set those limits to far apart. (On one section of the Arkansas all of the deaths occurred at low water, not high water levels.)

Who should set these limits? If limits are to be set, then a committee of government, commercial and whitewater experts should make those decisions. (That should stall the proposal for at least 10 years.)
Twenty years ago, economics would have forced an outfitter to impose personal limits. The press about a fatality would drop the number of people going to an outfitter considerably and the outfitter in response would make changes. An example of that is the first outfitter on the Arkansas to use helmets (bicycle helmets) did so after a fatality. People going rafting would be concerned about the risks and not go with a dangerous outfitter.
I also think that outfitters would change because they did not dealing with a fatality. Not the legal issues but the personal issues of having someone die on a trip with you.

Both issues have gone by the wayside. Go marketing and so many people have all but eliminated the issues that a fatality would cause. Any I believe that once someone dies, you deal successfully; you maybe grow a little immune to the issues of dealing with a fatality. I hope not though.

So where does this go. Probably the issue of setting limits will grow legs and the state will take it on. Probably the state will take credit for limiting fatalities. Probably those people who want to push the limits will find some way of doing so not matter what someone sitting on the side line believes. No matter who believes they have the right to tell you how to die.

Copyright 2010 Recreation Law (720) Edit Law, Recreaton.Law@Gmail.com

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