HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — The Town of Huntington announced Tuesday it will be cracking down on unsafe, intoxicated and speeding boaters in the waterways during the holiday weekend.
Town of Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci was joined by Lisa Gaines, the mother of 7-year-old Victoria Gaines who was killed in a July 4th boating accident in 2012, to plead with the public to be careful on the water this holiday weekend.
Gaines says the boat her daughter was riding in capsized because of overcrowding. She was just days away from her birthday when she, and two other children, died.
“I’ve been without her almost as long as I had her. She would have been eight, two days after, and she be turning 15 this coming Saturday, the 6th,” Gaines told WCBS 880’s Sophia Hall.
Lupinacci says the new boating safety program will be named after Victoria, and they will be watching the water closely to make sure everyone is obeying regulations and no one is intoxicated.
“You’re putting lives at risk, that’s what you’re doing when you decide to drink, overload, not follow rules,” Gaines notes.
The town supervisor expects as many as 800 to 1,000 boats in the waters in Huntington over the 4-day weekend.
The town will be enforcing a temporary 5 mile-per-hour boating speed limit in certain zones to prevent anymore tragedies.