Section 19-1027. SPEED LIMITS

 

1027.1The Mayor is authorized to establish speed limits for vessels using District of Columbia waters.

 

1027.2Except for police and fire vessels responding to an emergency, the speed of all power vessels shall be regulated to avoid danger or injury, either directly or by the effect of the wash or wake the vessels raise through their speed or otherwise, to persons or to other vessels, whether these vessels are floating, anchored, or underway to piers, wharves, bulkheads, bridges, or other waterfront construction.

 

1027.3The speed limits specified in this section shall not apply to vessels of the D.C. government or U.S. government that are responding to or engaging in any emergency condition, or to hydrofoil or air cushion vessels or vehicles that are operated for demonstration or experimentation purposes under the authority of a permit issued by the Chief of Police.

 

1027.4Except in the case of an emergency, or except as otherwise provided by the Mayor pursuant to § 1027.1, no power-driven vessel shall be propelled or operated at a rate greater than six (6) statute miles per hour in the Potomac River upstream from Arlington Memorial Bridge, in the Washington Channel upstream from Hains Point, in the Anacostia River upstream from Green Leaf Point to the Benning Road Bridge; or at a rate greater than ten (10) statute miles per hour when passing the wharf area of Alexandria, Virginia.

 

1027.5No operator of any personal watercraft while underway and within one hundred (100) yards of another vessel shall jump any other vessel’s wake while operating or in physical control of watercraft while on the District of Columbia’s waterway.

 

1027.6When two (2) or more personal water operators are operating at a speed greater than ten (10) miles per hour, the operators shall steer their craft so as to be at least twenty-five (25) yards apart from any vessel to include any other personal watercraft.

 

1027.7Except in the case of an emergency or except as otherwise provided by the Mayor, no operator of any personal watercraft shall operate or be in physical control of watercraft at a rate greater than six (6) statute miles per hour between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. on the date of the annual Independence Day fireworks display while on the Potomac River between the Arlington Memorial Bridge to the 14th Street Bride, in the Washington Channel from Hains Point, or in the Anacostia River from Green Leaf Point to the Benning Road Bride.

 

1027.8No hydrofoil or air cushion vessel or vehicle shall exceed a speed of ten (10) statute miles per hour in the area between the westerly shore line of the Potomac River and a line one hundred (100) yards east of the parallel to the pierhead line, between Jones Point and First Street, in the City of Alexandria, Virginia.

 

1027.9No hydrofoil or air cushion vessel or vehicle shall exceed a speed of six (6) statute miles per hour in any of the following areas:

 

(a)Upstream of the Arlington Memorial Bridge;

 

(b)In the Washington Channel; or

 

(c)Within the area of the Potomac River west of a line between Hunter Point and Daingerfield Island.

 

1027.10Reserved for Speed Limits set by the Mayor in accordance with § 1027.1.

 

source

Article 29 § 5 of the Police Regulations of the District of Columbia (January 1983); as amended by section 8(b)(2) of D.C. Law 11-248, the “Boating While Intoxicated Act of 1996 (44 DCR 2606) incorporating by reference the text of D.C. Act.