BUFORD, Ga. (AP) - Gov. Nathan Deal has signed a comprehensive boating safety law after a deadly summer on the water in north Georgia.
The bill, signed Tuesday at an event at Lake Lanier, honors the memory of two brothers killed in a boating crash last summer as well as the stepson of R&B artist Usher who died in a personal watercraft accident.
The bill lowers the blood-alcohol limit for boaters to .08 to match the driving limit. The bill also requires a boater safety education course for those operating motorized vessels that were born since Jan. 1, 1998.
Deal says too many tragedies have been tied to boating under the influence and inadequate boater education.
Georgia had been one of eight states with a higher blood-alcohol limit for boating
