Never said they were a waste of space. I have one on one of my own boats. All I am saying is that this emotive talk about the dangers is out of line with the facts.

Much legislation/regulation and opinion is based on "mights" rather than responding to the evidence of "what is". Once it becomes normal practice it becomes accepted - even though it may be wrong. Speed and road accidents is another area of modern life where dogma overrides reality. But on the other hand how many people do you see driving around without wearing their seatbelts when there is overwhelming evidence that they save lives every day. And the probability of having an accident on the road is infinitely higher than at sea, mainly because you are also at risk from the actions of others - very rare at sea!