Missouri § 306.125 - Operation of watercraft, how — restricted areas, certain vessels, speed allowed, penalty for violations — rulemaking authority — exceptions.

§ 306.125. Operation of watercraft, how — restricted areas, certain vessels, speed allowed, penalty for violations — rulemaking authority — exceptions.

1.  Every person shall operate a motorboat, vessel or watercraft in a careful and prudent manner and at a rate of speed so as not to endanger the property of another or the life or limb of any person and shall exercise the highest degree of care.

2.  No person shall operate a motorboat, vessel or watercraft at any time from a half-hour after sunset until an hour before sunrise the following day at a speed exceeding thirty miles per hour.

3.  Vessels shall not be operated within one hundred feet of any dock, pier, occupied anchored boat or buoyed restricted area on any lake at a speed in excess of slow-no wake speed.  The operator of any watercraft in violation of this subsection is guilty of an infraction and shall be fined not more than twenty-five dollars; however, if the operator cannot be identified, the owner of the watercraft shall be subject to such penalty.  Notwithstanding any provision of law or court rule to the contrary, no court costs shall be imposed on any person due to a violation of this subsection.

4.  The department of public safety shall promulgate all necessary rules and regulations for the implementation and administration of a no-wake cove for class 3 vessels in a cove with its main juncture less than 800 feet, measured from shore to shore, at the main channel.  Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 536.028.  This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable, and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2018, shall be invalid and void.

5.  Subsection 1 of this section shall not apply to a motorboat or other boat race authorized under section 306.130.

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(L. 1989 S.B. 135, A.L. 1995 H.B. 217, A.L. 1997 H.B. 379, A.L. 2008 H.B. 1715, A.L. 2018 H.B. 2116)