
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 10, 1993                   TAG: 9305100015
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RUNAWAY POWERBOAT KILLS MAN

One of two men ejected into Smith Mountain Lake on Saturday when they tried to turn their boat too quickly was killed as the skipperless boat continued to circle and ran over the man in the water, authorities said.

Alan Kerns, 29, of Maplelawn Avenue Northwest in Roanoke, was the first person to die in a boating accident at the lake in two years, said Lt. Karl Martin of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

The accident occurred on Bettys Creek, below Hales Ford Bridge, when the two men - in an 18-foot bass boat - "traveling at a high speed made a quick turn," Martin said.

After throwing the men into the lake, the boat continued the circle quickly and ran over and killed Kerns. With its throttle stuck open, the circling boat continued to wreak havoc. It smashed into one dock, kept going and crashed into a second dock and a pontoon boat.

A Game and Inland Fisheries worker who had just come on duty was only minutes away from the accident, Martin said. By the time the officer arrived, the out-of-control boat had stopped after it crashed into the second dock.

Just as the officer was getting close enough to shut the boat off, the wake from a passing vessel freed the runaway craft. It circled again, crashing into the dock a second time.

Martin said the accident could have been worse. "There were a lot of people on the shoreline who didn't know how much danger they were in."

Kerns' boating partner, Samuel Garwood of Charleston, S.C., was in satisfactory condition Sunday at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Martin said the fatality likely could have been avoided if the boat's operator had been using a safety device that was on the boat. The electrical switch can be plugged into the ignition, then attached by a cord to the boat's operator. If the operator is thrown from the boat, the "kill switch" will shut down the boat's motor.

The runaway boat caused a total of $3,000 damage to the two docks and another $1,000 damage to the pontoon boat. The bass boat itself sustained an estimated $10,000 damage.

Witnesses to the accident estimated the boat was going between 40 mph and 70 mph. Martin said fisheries officers are still not sure which of the men was operating the boat. "This was a tragic accident," Martin said. "Hopefully there won't be any more - this one could have been prevented."

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB