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TRANSPORT ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION COMMISSION ACT 1990 The principal purpose of the Transport Accident Investigation Commission shall be to determine the circumstances and causes of accidents and incidents, with a view to avoiding similar occurrences in the future, rather than to ascribe blame to any person. SPEED A FACTOR IN FATAL COLLISION A 4.6m jetboat and a Sea-Doo GTX 155 personal watercraft were both travelling too fast as they approached each other from behind overhanging willow trees on the Kawarau River, Queenstown on January 5, 2009. They had insufficient time to see each other, recognise the danger and take effective action, and the driver of the PWC had no room to turn to starboard, as he should have done, said the Transport Accident Investigation Commission. Other factors influencing the collision were: • the lack of a requirement by both commercial and recreational boaties to have a demonstrated understanding of the collision rules • uplifting of a speed restriction by the Queenstown Lakes District Council, • the requirement or otherwise of boaties to wear lifejackets • alcohol and boating accidents, and • that commercial jetboat drivers routinely exceeded safe speeds. The jetboat driver and the front-seat passenger drowned, and the third person received minor injuries. None were wearing a lifejacket. The driver of the PWC and his passenger were both wearing lifejackets. The female PWC passenger was knocked unconscious and critically injured but survived, while the driver was seriously injured. Both craft were declared a total loss. The TAIC said neither craft were travelling at a safe speed as required by Maritime Rules part 22. The jetboat was also on the wrong side of the river at the time of the collision. The owner of the jetboat, his nephew and a friend, left the Frankton Marina on Lake Wakatipu at about 1730 on a fishing trip. The friend drove past the confluence of the Kawarau and Shotover Rivers, fished for a while and had a beer each. The owner then took over the driving, with the friend sitting beside him and the nephew in the back. They headed downstream then turned back up the Kawarau River, stopping at various places to fish. During this period the nephew and his friend consumed a second beer. They continued on at a planing speed the nephew said later was not excessive. The driver was on his port side of the river (true starboard) approaching a clump of willows when the nephew saw the PWC head-on about 5m away and on a collision course. The driver tried to avoid a collision by steering to starboard toward the middle of the river but the PWC appeared to turn in the same direction and the two craft collided. The nephew said the impact threw him up to 3m into the air and he landed heavily back on the boat. The other two were ejected. The male driver of the PWC was taking a female friend on a ride on the family-owned craft. He had completed the proposed trip many times. He took the designated lane for downstream traffic under the Kawarau Falls Bridge, kept to the right-hand side of the river, performed some "zig-zags" and stayed close to the willows. He said later his speedometer was reading over 50kph. He slowed slightly approaching a corner and was about 6-7m from the willows. As he rounded the corner he saw the jetboat and tried to turn toward the middle of the river before they collided. 74 Professional Skipper May/June 2012 The nephew called emergency services on his cellphone then steered the boat toward the PWC driver and pulled him onto the boat. He then swam toward the unconscious woman and towed her back to the side of the boat. Another jetboat, residents from nearby houses, Queenstown Coastguard, a Queenstown ambulance and the Fire Service also arrived. A search began for the two missing men, who were eventually found next morning on the riverbed. "Had they been wearing lifejackets they might have been located in time to prevent their deaths," the TAIC said. In analysing the accident, the builder of the boat said it would have had to be travelling at a speed of at least 24kph to be on the plane. With the PWC driver estimating his speed at 48kph, the minimum closing speed would have been at least 72-80kph. The Commission said there was little point discussing give-way rules because a collision was almost inevitable from the time the two drivers saw each other. "By not travelling at a safe speed, each gave no opportunity to avoid a close-quarters situation developing in the first place." As a consequence of the council's uplifting of the five-knot limit within 200m of the shore in 1990 to legalise high-speed operations on the river, both drivers were only required to travel at a safe speed. The bylaw said all vessels "operating" on the river must keep to the right-hand side was not consistent with Maritime Rules part 22 as it could mislead river users into thinking all river activity on the right side would be travelling in the same direction. The Commission found that the PWC driver was following a line similar to that used by commercial jetboats, "meaning that commercial jetboat operations had operated in contravention of the Maritime Rules' requirement to travel at a safe speed." The drivers were only required to undergo at least 50 hours of training and to comply with the basic river rules of keeping right, and upriver traffic giving way to downriver traffic. The risk of accidents was likely to remain high until commercial jetboat drivers and recreational boaties learnt collision prevention rules. The Transport Accident Investigation Commission made six recommendations in its report: • Bylaws should require boaties to maintain an appropriate level of safety and consistency on inland waterways • Drivers of recreational vessels should undergo training or hold formal maritime documents to ensure they have learnt collision-prevention rules and other maritime skills • The person in charge of a recreational craft hold a licence or cer- tificate that requires them to be educated to identified standards • Maximum allowable levels of alcohol and other performance- impairing substances be set for persons in charge of recreational and commercial craft and allow testing for such levels • Local authorities address the issue of safe speeds on popular rivers such as those in Queenstown and the Kaituna River in the Bay of Plenty and, • Users of PWCs be encouraged to wear safety helmets, with a goal of mandating their use.