SPEAK OUT: Is Lake Lanier Safer in 2013?

Memorial Day weekend 2013 had barely begun before Lake Lanier again was beset by a boating-related injury accident.

And now that the weekend is over, there are more legal violations involving watercraft.

According to the Gainesville Times, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources reported 10 Boating Under the Influence citations and two boating incidents with two injuries over the Memorial Day weekend that ended at midnight Monday (May 27).

Statewide, there were 39 BUI incidents in 2013.

Of course, the state's legal limit for BUI was lowered to 0.08 from 0.10 in 2013. But it is too early to draw conclusions about that law's effect, a DNR official said.

“While it might be hard to show the numbers to say whether or not there was an impact, I do think that the great coverage the new law has received likely reached more people, and hopefully, that had an effect on people before they chose to drink and drive a boat,” spokesperson Melissa Cummings said.

The 2013 injury incident on Lake Lanier involved a boating hit-and-run that resulted in two injuries. An 18-year-old man has stepped forward to admit involvement in that case.

Also, consider the comments of a person on the Suwanee Patch Facebook page about Lake Lanier over the recent holiday weekend:

 I was out there yesterday with my son on our waverunners and put in at lanier harbor, went to Fish Tales for some lunch, went to see some friends near Holiday Marina and were going to checkout Sunset Cove and o...m...g.... the traffic going in and out of there was unbelievable. It amazes me how ignorant some of the people are out there that ruin it for everyone else... For example, we were taking a break at a friends dock and some guy in a boat comes FLYING by within twenty feet of the two story floating dock and it was bouncing everywhere... How many people REALLY know the real rules of the lake? Maybe 1%? How many really care?

-- Do you feel that Lake Lanier is safer in 2013? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

See also:

• Is Atlanta 'Most Redneck City' in U.S.?

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