Would Government Regulation of Diving Be So Bad?

[cool_hardware52]

This is going to be a volatile subject, so please NO PERSONAL ATTACKS allowed. address issues and ideas, not people. if you call anyone a name, your post will be pulled, no questions asked.

As to the ideas themselves, please speak freely.

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We often hear "let's police ourselves before the government steps in."

What if "self-policing" has failed? The training standards
are compromised, some might argue, new divers are at
their unsafest level ever, more and more instructors are
teaching without a basic understanding themselves.

Only a government entity (immune from commercial pressures) can ensure that standards are not only SET IN PAPER but
also ADHERED to in training.

Pilots have to pass an FAA test, though their training can be
private. Why not the same for divers?

Wouldn't divers be safer if someone WITHOUT A PROFIT MOTIVE was in charge of evaluating diver skills prior to
handing them a license?

Hey Andy,

Interesting question.

First how do you define failure? Deaths or injuries per 1000 participants or some similar metric?

The analogy to pilots is flawed. Pilots have a real chance to hurt people other than themselves. Same for Doctors and enginners for that matter.

Do private CFI's have a lesser profit motive than a Dive instructor in terms of selling more training or recruiting more students?

Has the FAA prevented stupid unsafe behavior by pilots? To a fair degree in commercial aviation, yes. General aviation is over represented by risk taking cowboys, dare I say many of the same personalities not uncommon in scuba. Please understand most pilots are safe (or really want to be) as are most divers, but the cowboy element exists in both pursuits.

How would define success?



Regards,



Tobin George

 

[Potapko]

The question is, how much Govt regulation are you willing to allow.
More people are injured every year operating a lawn mower than are hurt in diving accidents. Perhaps we should have an agency to grant licenses with required testing.

More people fall off their bikes and die each year than are killed in diving accidents. Perhaps they should be required to be examined before buying a bike.

More people fall in the shower and sustain permanent injuries than are hurt in diving accidents.
More people are killed skiing every year than diving. Shall I go on? ]

IMHO any Govt regulation of "PRIVATE" activities is bad!

ie.
driving a car is not private
flying a plane is not private
and so on.

 

[yknot]

Andy-is this a covert attempt, as a Florida resident, to implement another tourist tax on the rest of us?

 

[H2Andy]

two clarifications:

1. i am advocating nothing

2. i don't have an answer for this question

 

[TCDiver1]

What if "self-policing" has failed? The training standards
are compromised, some might argue, new divers are at
their unsafest level ever, more and more instructors are
teaching without a basic understanding themselves.

OW training has not, in my opinion, gotten worse than the OW training i took in the late 70's. I don't think most newly minted divers are generally any better or worse than they were 30 years ago.

Equipment has gotten much better. Much safer with current technologies and gear arrangements.

The industry has a good safety record. No need for government interference IMO. It would inevitably encumber the industry with useless rules and regulations that make sense to only the people who make them.

Nope, keep the Fed out. They have their hands full already.

 

[Boatlawyer]

Andy, this is an interesting topic. Thanks for trying to frame the issue without taking a position.

 

[H2Andy]

it would be nice if you had read my question carefully, xanthro, before opining thereof

SOME people are genuinely interested about what others
think about a specific subject, and sometimes they ask

 

[Boatlawyer]

I'm not trying to attack him.

However, asking why water can't be used in water as a weight shows a lack of basic knowledge of buoyancy.

His advocating government involvement does not state any actual supporting facts or references.

He is presenting his opinion, and his opinion on other simple matters is demonstrably naïve, as is the case on this topic.

Xanthro

He didn't state his position, he asked a hypothetical question.

 

[Hank49]

Government may be able to somehow license and control diving in the USA...but how about Indonesia, South Pacific Islands, the Maldives? If they try it, I'll be a total "bootlegger". Nobody is going to tell me when, where and how to dive.

 

[RDP]

As a person that has take quite a few FAA, FCC, and other government tests, I have to say that they are pretty weak. The people that pass the usual 70% margin do not necessarily know how to perform the actions they are now certified to do. It's experience that makes the difference