We need enforcement, not more laws

Senator Craig Wilcox has said he's preparing new legislation to address boating safety in response to the recent death on the Fox River. Such legislation is unwarranted and will have no positive impact on Illinois.

Placing speed limits on the river isn't going to do any good; the driver who caused the collision in question was already breaking the law and would have simply ignored any speed limits. Expanding no-wake zones wouldn't have made any difference either, as the reckless driver was already in a no-wake zone.

People routinely overreact to high-profile tragedies like this. Many seem to believe that any given crime would have been prevented if only we had a couple more laws in place, but this is rarely the case. What's needed is enforcement of existing laws. I don't know what traffic enforcement is like on the rivers, but traffic enforcement on the roads is quite weak. People routinely violate the speed limits, change lanes improperly, and follow other cars too closely. It should be pretty clear to everyone that car drivers don't have much fear of traffic enforcement in the Chicago metro region, so I don't know why boat drivers would feel any differently.

If Sen. Wilcox feels he has to do something to improve traffic safety, he could try to find money to fund a state police enforcement push on the waterways. If he insists on making a statutory change, I recommend making drunk driving and reckless conduct (including reckless homicide) non-probationable. People would be somewhat less likely to commit those crimes if they knew a conviction came with mandatory incarceration. But adding speed limits to the river? That's not going to help. That's just going to be one more law for people to ignore.

Michael Bausone, Des Plaines