The Andalusian Motorboat Association has requested the presence of local police forces along the coast to combat speeding jet skis.
Eduardo Botías, president of the association, spoke after the tragic death of a 7-year-old boy from Marbella who died when the jet ski he was riding on hit a wave and overturned due to the speed of the driver. He said that safety can always be improved, but in the case of this tragic accident in the waters of Marbella, such incidents “cannot be solved”, citing the recklessness of the adult who was driving the jet ski.
Speeding jet skis outside local police jurisdiction
He pointed out that the greatest carelessness of jet ski users is that they do not respect the navigation rules when they are more than 100 metres from the beach, which is outside the jurisdiction of the local police. There is a “strict sanctions regime” in the motorboat sector, and yet some continue to violate the law because the local police can legally do little to stop them.
Ask local authorities for help
The central government is responsible for monitoring the sea. More specifically, it is the Guardia Civil that is responsible for compliance with maritime law. However, Botías said that local police could also do more. He said: “The maritime service of the Guardia Civil and customs are doing their best, but they do not have sufficient resources to be able to monitor the entire coast.” Therefore, he called for “not only the regional level, but also the municipalities to do their utmost to protect citizens who use the sea off their coasts.”
He cited as examples cities on the east coast such as Cartagena, Torrevieja and La Manga del Mar Menor, where the local police use jet skis to keep an eye on maritime traffic and the accident rate has dropped significantly.
