Citycat skipper case dismissed

[seatime]

The skipper of the citycat that collided with the rowing craft has had the charge of operating his vessel unsafely, dismissed.
This case highlighted some important areas in the Rules of the Road. Failure to keep a proper lookout and operating at an unsafe speed had been the prosecution's argument.
Interestingly the rowers were required to display a light between sunset and sunrise, the accident occured about 6.10, sunrise on that day was documented as 6.20. The rowers were operating illegally, and they and 4 other school rowing crews had been pinged by the Water Police for the same breach 2 weeks earlier. Another interesting point, 4 commercial operators using the river were asked what's the flashing yellow light on the Citycats used for. All 4 got it wrong! why they thought Citycats operate in the non-displacement mode is anyones guess.

[Lone_Wolf]

I am surprised that, to date, the coaches or school have not been viewed as being responsible for the students and their welfare.
As for the Citycat operator, I sincerley hope he can get on with his life now. The accident involving injury to others, being charged, the court process and the media attention would have created a huge trauma in his own life.

[chanquetas]

There was a yacht got run over off NZ about 10 years ago, same thing, no lights at night, and eveyone whinged about the ship that hit it.

No lights - No rights!

[Gutsy]

I also hope the Citycat driver can get on with his life. I'm sure all the media attention, court case, etc would cause a huge stress to him and his family.

[DR]

on last nights news the rowers claimed that a couple of weeks earlier they were told by water police that they did not require lights on the skiff????

[Panasonic]

Ferry smashes rowers

16aug05

A SCHOOLGIRL rowing crew narrowly escaped serious injury today when their boat was sliced in half by a Brisbane River ferry.

Nine girls from St Margaret's Anglican Girls School were aboard the rowing boat when it was struck by the high-speed City Cat ferry near inner-suburban Newstead Park about 6.05am (AEST), police said.

Two girls, both aged 16, were taken to Royal Brisbane Hospital.

One was treated for cuts to the top of her head, and the other was treated for elbow injuries.

The crew's boat was sliced in half on impact with the ferry.






"I'm just glad we didn't see a terrible tragedy this morning," Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, whose council is responsible for the ferries, said.

School principal Vicki Waters said the City Cat apparently did not see the smaller boat in the dim early morning light.

"The coxswain had seen the City Cat coming towards (the crew)it, had screamed to the girls to get out of the boat, a couple of the girls didn't hear – the City Cat hit them," Ms Waters said.

The crew members, who were training for this weekend's Head of the River rowing regatta at Wivenhoe Dam, west of Brisbane, would receive counseling, she said.

The school would also review its rowing safety procedures.

"There are very stringent risk-management processes that we have in place anyway," Ms Waters said.

"The girls, for their early morning rows, do have a flashing light on the boat and on their cap, so they are ... normally, visible."

Brisbane City Council transport committee chairman Graham Quirk said visibility was poor was at the time of the accident.

Police are still investigating the cause of the accident, and have impounded the City Cat.

[finga64]

I also work on the principle of give way (respect) to anything bigger then ya no matter what the rules say.

Couldn't the girls hear a CityCat coming?? They're not that quite and not really that big so you can't get out of the way.

My little tinny is no match to the bigger boats and cruisers down the Pin (whether I'm underway or anchored or drifting) and they sometimes just don't care about rules or just don't see you [smiley=cool2.gif]. Pooed my pants once [smiley=confused.gif] [smiley=stunned.gif], very wary now [smiley=thumbsup.gif].

[chanquetas]

I also hope the Citycat driver can get on with his life. I'm sure all the media attention, court case, etc would cause a huge stress to him and his family.

Good point Gutsy.
And what about his loss of income since the incident? The news report said that he had been reinstated, and he was only awarded $2000 to cover legal costs. But what were he and his family surviving on since August?

[seatime]

There is a bit more to the story of course, the police had actually booked the crews 2 weeks earlier then rescinded 2 or 3 of the tickets after pressure from the schools, one was St Margaret's.
In my book the coach and school should be held responsible. One of the school staff was heard to state in front of officials, laughing
"we've been telling those girls to wear their lights every day, but you know girls, ha, ha ,ha". I'll bet the parents aren't laughing now.
The parents are now free to sue the school for "lack of duty of care" and I hope they win big time. Bris C.C. expect a lot from their skippers, they want Master IVs with high speed experience, these people don't grow on trees. They want schedules and timetables kept spot-on, the skippers are very good at what they do.
There are lessons for us all here. cheers

[Jeremy]

the accident occured about 6.10, sunrise on that day was documented as 6.20.

We all know that it gets light well before sunrise. I wasn't there but I bet there was good visibility at 6.10 am. The girls may have been found to be legally in the wrong, but IMHO the skipper should have been able to see them if he was keeping a proper lookout.

Jeremy

[chanquetas]

Jeremy,
Im not sure those times are accurate. I heard that the incident actually happened about 30mins or more before sunrise.

Cheers,
Jake

[seatime]

Yes there were different times quoted, 5.50 other skippers testified they heard a vhf transmission from the citycat. Twilight is a dangerous time of the day and difficult for lookouts. I heard there was mist or light fog in that part of the river that morning. Quite often in cases like this blame is apportioned to both parties 80%-20%, 90%-10% etc. In this case it seems to be 100%-0%, don't have all the details.
In nearly all marine incidents the cause comes back to failure to keep an adequate lookout and operating at an unsafe speed.
These are without doubt the two most important rules in the Collision Regs.
In this case the rowers were found to be not keeping an adequate lookout and not displaying the correct light signals. They could well be charged, but unlikely. It's still hard to understand how he didn't see them, but we don't have all the facts and thank dog no one died.

[seatime]

sorry, correct "marine incidents" to collisions, tks

[Jeremy]

Yes there were different times quoted, 5.50 other skippers testified they heard a vhf transmission from the citycat. Twilight is a dangerous time of the day and difficult for lookouts. I heard there was mist or light fog in that part of the river that morning. Quite often in cases like this blame is apportioned to both parties 80%-20%, 90%-10% etc. In this case it seems to be 100%-0%, don't have all the details.
In nearly all marine incidents the cause comes back to failure to keep an adequate lookout and operating at an unsafe speed.
These are without doubt the two most important rules in the Collision Regs.
In this case the rowers were found to be not keeping an adequate lookout and not displaying the correct light signals. They could well be charged, but unlikely. It's still hard to understand how he didn't see them, but we don't have all the facts and thank dog no one died.

point taken. I wasn't there and didn't hear all the evidence. I'd hate to be charged over an incident which I thought wasn't my fault.

Jeremy

[12Ply]

The parents are now free to sue the school for "lack of duty of care" and I hope they win big time.

As a family friend of one of the rowers families, I think you'll find that no thought of starting civil action against anyone has even crossed their mind, they are happy that their daughter is OK.
Of course stern questions have been asked of the school.

Seems to be a very "American" ( for want of a better term ) to sue everyone you can after an accident.