(a) Any person operating a vessel upon the waters of this state which vessel is in any manner involved in an accident in which any person dies, is injured so as to require medical attention, or disappears, shall immediately notify the nearest law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over such accident and, not later than forty-eight hours after such accident, report the matter in writing to the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection. The report shall be on a form prescribed by the commissioner and shall state as accurately as possible the time, place and cause of such accident, the injuries occasioned by the accident and any other facts the commissioner deems necessary. If such operator is physically incapable of notifying the nearest law enforcement agency or of making such report and there is another participant or passenger in the accident not incapacitated, such participant or passenger shall immediately notify the nearest law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over such accident and make the report to the commissioner not later than forty-eight hours after such accident. Any person operating a vessel upon the waters of this state which is in any manner involved in an accident in which the total damages to all property affected by such accident, including property of such operator, is in excess of five hundred dollars, such person shall, not later than five days after such accident, report the matter in writing to the commissioner on such forms as said commissioner may prescribe. If there is no person other than the owner capable of making such report or if the report has not been submitted and the owner of such vessel is not incapacitated, such owner shall, not later than five days after learning of the facts of such accident, report the matter to the commissioner, on such forms as said commissioner may prescribe. Any such operator of a vessel, or surviving participant or passenger in any such accident, or the owner of the vessel involved in any such accident, shall provide any other information or additional report as the commissioner shall require. Failure of any person to comply with any provision of this subsection shall be an infraction.

(b) Except in an emergency, no vessel towboat operator who for a fee or other compensation conducts vessel towing services for recreational boaters shall take under tow any vessel which has been involved in a boating accident or has been abandoned without first notifying federal, state or municipal law enforcement authorities and the owner of the vessel. In the event circumstances are such that the vessel should be immediately towed to safety to prevent loss of the vessel or injury to passengers, the towboat operator shall immediately notify such authorities upon reaching safe harbor. Failure to notify law enforcement authorities and the vessel owner as required by the provisions of this subsection shall be an infraction.

(P.A. 87-505, S. 3, 9; P.A. 96-82; 96-118, S. 6; P.A. 05-133, S. 3; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 96-82 amended Subsec. (a) to provide for more detailed procedures for reporting of boating accidents and added Subsec. (b) re responsibilities of vessel towboat operators in postaccident towing; P.A. 96-118 amended Subsec. (a) to make a minor grammatical correction; P.A. 05-133 required notification of accident to nearest law enforcement agency “having jurisdiction over such accident” not later than, rather than within, 48 hours after accident and made a technical change in Subsec. (a); pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 2011.