Editor;
Once again, another death resulted from careless boat activity on our popular beaches when a boat captain towing a banana boat ran over and killed a Thai man swimming at Jomtien beach. I don’t know why officials don’t see this – but it is obvious that no boats of any kind should be allowed anywhere near swimmers. The solution would be to cordon off the entire beach with ropes and buoys strong enough to cause damage to boats careless enough to try and cross them, and have designated areas well away from swimmers for jet ski rentals, parasailing, banana boats and any powered motor driven water vehicles.
It’s obvious that the people in charge of these types of rentals just aren’t responsible enough to be let loose among the swimming public. As an example, as I was walking down Pattaya’s beach promenade on Friday, I heard some girls screaming out in the water, just off shore. What I saw amazed me, and not in a good way. A jet ski driver was repeatedly racing in towards them at high speed, and just a meter or less away, turning sharply to splash the girls with the spray and wave from its wake. He’d then go back out and do it again, seemingly “just for fun”. Does that seem like responsible behavior to you? It certainly doesn’t seem to me to represent the responsible behavior needed to operate this potentially dangerous equipment in the vicinity of others.
I read all the time about how Pattaya is always trying to improve its image to tourists, and there are stories in the Pattaya Mail about how government officials are working hard to improve water safety. As far as I can tell, they’re all missing the most obvious solutions. Keep motorized water traffic very far away from swimmers.
Yours,
Rodney Moody
