Arkansas Code of 1987 (2023) › Title 27 - TRANSPORTATION (§§ 27-1-101 — 27-117-105) › Subtitle 7 - WATERCOURSES AND NAVIGATION (§§ 27-101-101 — 27-102-110) › Chapter 101 - WATERCRAFT (§§ 27-101-101 — 27-101-1030) › Subchapter 6 - PERSONAL WATERCRAFT (§§ 27-101-601 — 27-101-607) › Section 27-101-602 - Regulation of personal watercraft

(a)
(1)
No person shall operate a personal watercraft unless each person aboard is wearing a United States Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device to be used in accordance with the label on the personal flotation device.
(2)
Provided, no person aboard a personal watercraft shall use an inflatable personal flotation device to meet the personal flotation device requirement of this subsection.
(b)
A person operating a personal watercraft equipped by the manufacturer with a lanyard-type engine cutoff switch shall attach such lanyard to his or her person, clothing, or personal flotation device as appropriate for the specific vessel.
(c)
No person shall operate a personal watercraft at any time between thirty (30) minutes after sunset and thirty (30) minutes before sunrise.
(d)
No person under sixteen (16) years of age shall operate a personal watercraft on the waters of this state, except:
(1)
A person at least twelve (12) years of age may operate a personal watercraft if a person at least eighteen (18) years of age is aboard the vessel who:
(A)
Was born before January 1, 1986, or has a valid boater education certificate; and
(B)
Is in a position to take immediate control of the vessel; or
(2)
A person under twelve (12) years of age may operate a personal watercraft if a person at least twenty-one (21) years of age is aboard the vessel who:
(A)
Was born before January 1, 1986, or has a valid boater education certificate; and
(B)
Is in a position to take immediate control of the vessel.
(e)
(1)
Every personal watercraft shall at all times be operated in a reasonable and prudent manner. No person shall operate a personal watercraft in an unsafe or reckless manner.
(2)
Unsafe personal watercraft operation shall include but not be limited to the following:
(A)
Becoming airborne or completely leaving the water while crossing the wake of another vessel within one hundred feet (100') of the vessel creating the wake;
(B)
Weaving through congested traffic;
(C)
Operating at greater than slow no-wake speed within one hundred feet (100') of an anchored or moored vessel, shoreline, dock, pier, swim float, marked swim area, swimmer, surfer, person engaged in angling, or any manually propelled vessel; and
(D)
(i)
Operating contrary to the rules of the road or following too close to another vessel, including another personal watercraft.
(ii)
For the purposes of this section, following too close shall be construed as proceeding in the same direction and operating at a speed in excess of ten miles per hour (10 m.p.h.) when approaching within one hundred feet (100') to the rear or fifty feet (50') to the side of another motorboat or sailboat which is underway unless such vessel is operating in a channel too narrow to keep the required distance, in which case a personal watercraft may be operated at a speed which is reasonable and prudent for the existing conditions.
(f)
No person who owns a personal watercraft or who has charge over or control of a personal watercraft shall authorize or knowingly permit the personal watercraft to be operated in violation of this subchapter.
Amended by Act 2015, No. 694,§ 4, eff. 7/22/2015.
Acts 1999, No. 756, § 2; 2009, No. 693, § 3.