Montana Code 23-2-531. Personal watercraft operation
23-2-531. Personal watercraft operation. In addition to applicable provisions in this part, a person may not operate a personal watercraft:
Terms Used In Montana Code 23-2-531
- Manufacturer: means a person engaged in the business of manufacturing or importing new and unused vessels or new and unused outboard motors for the purpose of sale or trade. See Montana Code 23-2-502
- Operate: means to navigate or otherwise use a motorboat or a vessel. See Montana Code 23-2-502
- Operator: means the person who navigates, drives, or is otherwise in immediate control of a motorboat or vessel. See Montana Code 23-2-502
- Person: means an individual, partnership, firm, corporation, association, or other entity. See Montana Code 23-2-502
- Personal watercraft: means a vessel that uses an outboard motor or an inboard engine powering a water jet pump as its primary source of propulsion and that is designed to be operated by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling on the vessel rather than by the conventional method of sitting or standing in the vessel. See Montana Code 23-2-502
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Vessel: means every description of watercraft, unless otherwise defined by the department, other than a seaplane on the water, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. See Montana Code 23-2-502
(1)unless a person operating or riding on the vessel is wearing a United States coast guard approved type I, II, III, or V personal flotation device;
(2)if the vessel is equipped by the manufacturer with a lanyard type engine cutoff switch unless the lanyard is attached to the operator‘s person, clothing, or personal flotation device as is appropriate for the specific vessel;
(3)(a) except as provided for standup personal watercraft in subsection (3)(b) or when towing a waterskier from or to a dock or shore, at greater than no-wake speed within 200 feet of a dock, swimmer, swimming raft, nonmotorized boat, or anchored vessel on a lake or river;
(b)at greater than the minimum speed necessary to operate a personal watercraft when leaving or returning directly from or to a dock or shore for the purpose of launching or docking; or
(4)on any surface waters restricted in whole or in part by rule of the fish and wildlife commission;
(5)in a reckless or negligent manner. Actions prohibited in 23-2-523 are considered reckless operation.