Memorial Day Holiday Weekend
Seat Belt and Boat Safety reminders
by Pinedale Online!
May 22, 2007
The Memorial Day weekend (May 25-28) marks the beginning of the summer travel and tourist season, with many people planning to hit the highways for trips and recreation. Since this is such a big travel weekend, the Wyoming Highway Patrol always does a special safety awareness campaign and increases law enforcement activities and presence by Troopers.
Highway Safety & Seat Belts
Wyoming Highway Patrol will be joining with other Highway Patrols and State Police nation wide during the Memorial Day holiday for an aggressive mobilization to crack down on low seat belt use and to reduce highway fatalities. There will be a zero tolerance for anyone not wearing their seat belt, according to Wyoming Highway Patrol Lieutenant Colonel Jess Oyler.
Last year during the 2006 Memorial Day holiday reporting period the State experienced 25 injury crashes with a total of 39 people injured and 72 property damage crashes. There were no fatal crashes reported during the 2006 Memorial Day holiday.
Boating Safety
Game and Fish officers will be patrolling reservoirs to make sure watercraft and area waters are safe for everyone. Wyoming law requires that a suitable coast guard approved life jacket must be available and accessible for each person on board. In addition, one coast guard approved throwable flotation device is required for most boats. Wyoming law also requires lighting for watercraft underway on waters between sunset and sunrise and fire extinguishers on most types of watercraft. So far this year, lack of a throwable flotation device is the most common water violation. Iit is extremely important to tell the occupants of your boat where everything is located in case of an emergency.
Jet Ski Safety
Jet Ski citations are typically for jumping waves, playing 'chicken' and traveling too close to other watercraft. Other common citation causes in 2006 were for not wearing their life jackets and for users not being old enough (16 years of age) to be operating a jet ski.
Some states, like Colorado and Utah, allow younger jet skiers to operate personal watercraft under direct supervision of an adult upon completion of a PWC education course. Wyoming does not have a PWC Education Program, nor does Wyoming recognize the PWC certificates from other states.
Wyoming law also prohibits watercraft users to operate any watercraft under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance. Boaters can pick up a copy of the 2006-07 Wyoming Watercraft Regulations at Game and Fish offices and most license agents.
Source: Wyoming Highway Patrol and the Wyoming Game & Fish Department
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