On Thursday, July 14, a teenage Texas girl was seriously injured in a boating accident on Lake Hamilton.

According to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the accident happened at around 4 p.m. when a personal watercraft being operated by a 15 year old girl with a 14 year old passenger, both of Texas, was traveling in open water on the lake. The driver turned in front of a deck boat, and collided with it. When emergency services arrived they took the passenger, who was in critical condition, to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs where she was then airlifted to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.

In July 2009, a state law was implemented which raised the minimum age that a person can operate a personal watercraft alone from 14 to 16. The Act is known as Rachel’s Bill, is in memory of Rachel Rutherford, a 15 year old Little Rock girl who died March 29, 2007, as the result of injuries she sustained in a personal watercraft accident on Lake Hamilton.

In addition, anyone born on or after January 1, 1986, must successfully complete an approved safe boating education course prior to operating a motorboat. Rachel’s Bill also specifies that anyone operating a personal watercraft in Arkansas must have completed the course.

If you have been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing, you deserve full and fair compensation. Please call the Little Rock auto accident attorneys of the Law Offices of Alan LeVar, at (844) 867-5053 or contact us online to schedule your free consultation.