I may not be popular with what I have to say, and I say it with all due respect to all the people on that boat that traject night
Our society has spent, since WWII making everything easier so everyone can enjoy the same things. We have been dumbed down as a society. It started with cars. Automatic transmissions and power steering allowed a large percentage of people to drive cars who probably shouldn't. Imagine trying to drive a standard transmission with no power steering and text someone?
The same thing has happened with boats. Sixty years ago if you didn't know what you were doing, you couldn't get the boat started. Never mind leave the dock. The maintenance of a wood boat required a lot of money or knowledge that was handed down or aquired. Today any idiot can buy a boat that is easier to maintain, start and steer then ever in history. Don't get me going on how fast these boats are.
Legislation will not ever be able to keep up with the technology. GPS and the mindless following of a curser has removed almost any reason for a new boater to learn anything about charts, compass, wind direction, tides, weather and where the hell am I.
Making people take a test would not change anything that happened that night. Having more safety precautions would only make people feel safer to do stupid things. Anyone over the age of twelve that had spent any time on the water in smaller boats would have known that boat was unsafe.
It's too easy in our society since WWII to point fingers or blame someone else or require legislation to fix the dumbing down of our species. I see it every day, so do you.
Just saying,
Billy 10K.