Boat Accident on the Lake of the Ozarks

I love the last line of the story:

“Kober said the driver, 48-year-old Marvin Carter III of Memphis, Tenn., was a seasoned boater, which shows that accidents can happen to anyone, no matter how much they’ve been on the water.”

Category: Accidents, Current Events, Video

7 Comments »

Stupid mistakes…Are there “Stupid” Mistakes?
No, I do not believe there are “stupid” mistakes, I believe the term “stupid” is simply an adjective used by the orator to characterize / emphasize the gravity of the error (miscalculation).
I think experienced (seasoned) persons that take risks, cannot calculate the extent of the risk (or consider all the conditions – factors) they are about to accept when making on the spot decisions – some get lucky others do not. This does not make them “stupid”. Sanctioned events have professionals, coordinators, engineers, “rules”, warnings, etc. they still have incidents, but there are controls in place to minimize the outcome…sometimes the holes line up or the incident is so catastrophic that all protections fail…but this event was an unsanctioned one and the willing participants were not even wearing some basic PPE, and in the video, the driver looks to be accelerating just before taking the wake…this is a race…where are the rules? This is beyond recreational boating!
Could the event have been prevented? YES;
Are there Root Causes to be learned from this? YES;
Will they? Probably not…
Comment by Kenn — September 18, 2012 @ 4:59 am
Mistakes that we’ve been involved with or herd about are lessons that should be remembered. Complacency is what get’s in our way, it’s not going to happen, not this time, not to me. Even when we’re having fun, odds play a role in tragedy, is it worth it ?, I guess that’s up to the individual, think hard about it !!
Comment by Jim Gentry — September 18, 2012 @ 10:11 am
Was this a race? I thought it was a private boating accident. At any rate in terms of the question, are there “stupid” mistakes, I think it depends on how you define the word “stupid”. This might be a crude way of putting it, but if you define stupidity as the gross inability to retain information then I would have to disagree with the above comment and say that, yes, there is such a thing. If there isn’t then why do we get upset when someone asks us the same question more than twice? I do agree with the statement above that experienced (seasoned) persons that take risks, cannot calculate the extent of the risk when they take them and that sometimes accidents happen. However, I believe that competent, experienced persons will put multiple safeguarding in place so that the outcomes of the incident are minimized as is done in sanctioned racing.
Comment by Micah Gillum — September 18, 2012 @ 12:19 pm
“Stupid mistake” is an excuse I use when I know better, but had a lapse in judgement.
In this case, the lapse in judgement may have been caused by the thrill of the ride, or more likely, wanting to showboat for the friends.
Comment by Mark Pilcher — September 18, 2012 @ 1:08 pm
Stupid mistake? Dumb mistake? Why worry so much about the correct words. It was a mistake right? Could have it been foreseen, Yes. Conditions… choppy water, too much motor. (Beer?) Could have the driver known better? Should have. That in my book is operator error. A dumb-stupid ill judged mistake. Ohh… watch him hit full throttle right before contact of the wave. Did I use too many adjectives? Stupid is as Stupid does…. right?
Comment by David Doyle — September 18, 2012 @ 4:36 pm
As stated, the word “stupid” can as an adjective be identify an error that was made when the person commiting the error doing things against best practices. Any experienced boater knows that when crossong a wake, best practice is to slow to safe speed. If you watch the video closely, the operator adjusts the throttle a number of times between when first reaching the wake, and the actual incident. Therfore was aware of the proper procedure of slowing. The mistake, which for the purpose of desrpition of the mistake could be considered stupid, as he knew best practice, recognized the hazard, started to mitigate the hazard, and made the decision to continue. If you asked him after the incident, I would bet he would consider his own actions stupid. Would he do it again?? That would surely be stupid. Can you use the word stupid in a TapRoot Investigation?? I think not.
Comment by George Richard — September 19, 2012 @ 5:14 am
The only qualifications required to drive one of these boats (or any small craft) is the money to buy it and put fuel in it.
Being an avid boater I see these “Mistakes” all the time. This one was stupid.
Complacency develops when you have been lucky before and jumping wakes is fun and thrilling to the passengers. It is only a matter of time before they pay for their overconfidence.
I’ll bet you the PFD’s were safely stored in some compartment too.
Barry
Comment by Barry — September 19, 2012 @ 1:17 pm