Disruptive and dangerous jetski riders will be targeted in a maritime safety blitz across the Central Coast this weekend.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast and Member for Terrigal Adam Crouch said the blitz was focused on ensuring new jetski riders are aware of the rules.
“Education is key to reducing risk and increasing safety, particularly with the influx of new riders learning to navigate the waterways,” Mr Crouch said.
“Operation Responsible Riders will be carried out in waterways like Brisbane Water, Broken Bay and Pittwater, targeting speed, irregular riding and not keeping a safe distance from other boaters, swimmers, and fixed objects such as wharves.”
Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance said the COVID-19 pandemic had seen a 92 per cent spike in new jetski licences in NSW.
“Since May we’ve seen more than 9,076 new jetski licences issued, that’s up more than 90 per cent for the same period in the previous year. We understand riding a jetski is a lot of fun, but we’ve also got a lot of new riders out on the water and we need to make sure it’s a safe place for everyone,” Mr Constance said.
“We’ve seen some really disruptive and dangerous behavior from jetski riders recently. It goes without saying, boating rules have been designed to keep everyone safe. Any unsafe behaviour can put others at risk and create a bad reputation for the majority of users who do the right thing.”
NSW Maritime data indicates that the top five safety issues related to jetski use are:
– Irregular riding,
– Speeding,
– Unlicensed riding,
– Not keeping a safe distance from other boats, and
– Failure to keep to the right.
Operation Responsible Riders begins today and concludes at sundown on Sunday, 28 February.