New law bans docking boats at road ends overnight

By Kathy Barks Hoffman Associated Press LANSING (AP) -- Boaters no longer will be able to tie up overnight at spots where public roads end on lakes and other waterways under a measure signed into law last week by Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. The new law makes it a misdemeanor to place boat hoists or anchoring systems or to install a dock or wharf at road ends. Similar penalties apply to boaters who moor or dock their boats at road ends between midnight and sunrise. Only single-season docks authorized by local government officials and approved by the Department of Environmental Quality will be allowed under the new law. Violators face a fine of up to $500 per day. Calley also signed into law a measure taking away law enforcement officers' ability to stop boaters and make sure they have adequate floatation devices on board. A release from the governor's office said "repeated stops without reasonable suspicion of violation are an unnecessary hindrance for boaters." Anyone being towed by a boat, such as water skiers and swimmers riding tubes, will have to wear life vests under another new law. But children under the age of 12 no longer will have to wear Type 1 or Type II life vests that offer higher buoyancy. They'll now be required only to wear Type III personal floatation devices. Another new law changes the charge for fleeing and eluding law enforcement officers while in a boat or on a personal watercraft from a misdemeanor to a felony. That makes the penalty level equal to the one motorists face if they flee on land. Calley also signed into law a measure that requires moored barges to be lit so other boaters can see them and to have the owner's name and contact information marked on the side so law enforcement officers know how to reach the owner. The lieutenant governor took over bill-signing duties last week while Gov. Rick Snyder is in Italy and Germany on a weeklong trade mission. Published: Tue, Mar 27, 2012