Police checks: More than 200 offences - officers issue warnings and fines

For the third time, the transnational themed inspection week was organised by the waterway police within the Nordverbund. From 9 to 20 May, officers in Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania increasingly targeted private and commercial sailing and motor boats and their crews. In Hamburg 26, in Bremen 35, in Schleswig-Holstein 311, in Lower Saxony 107 and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 392 recreational craft inspections were carried out.

Positive results after police checks

According to their press report, the water protectors then drew a positive balance. Of the total of 871 watercraft inspected, 217 offences were found, which represents around a quarter of all recreational craft. However, the majority of these were merely administrative offences.

In 44 of these cases, the officers simply issued a verbal warning. However, 105 skippers had to pay a fine as part of the warning. A further 59 of the administrative offences detected resulted in corresponding fine proceedings. As in the previous year, when there were six incidents of this type, the level of reported offences was extremely low this time with a total of eight offences.

More on the topic:

• Police checks: Outdated nautical charts, missing labelling - skippers have to pay the price
• Police checks: Skippers face these penalties for drink-driving

In focus: equipment, certificates and fitness to drive

In order to take account of the preventative nature of the checks, the safety-relevant equipment, necessary certificates and the fitness to sail of the recreational craft operators were checked in particular. According to Michaela Freudenberg from the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Water Police Office, there were no major incidents.

Most of the offences were purely violations of traffic regulations. The aim of the "Maritime Safety Days" is to prevent impairment and damage to shipping and pleasure craft traffic.