Editor's note: Here is a sampling of readers' comments to our Wednesday editorial "Boating tragedies happen too often." The editorial followed a deadly boating accident in Lake Lanier.

– I'm sorry, but drinking and boating is not an "accident." It's on purpose. I hope the guy who killed those two boys is charged with murder. He made a choice to go out drinking on that boat, and it's no different than drinking and driving. He took two lives, then ran like the coward he is.

– I still don't know what happened. Was the fishing boat going fast or was it going only at idle speed? I can't imagine the pontoon boat was going fast with 13 people on board. Especially at night, pontoon boats are just lumbering along like a turtle. Where can an accident report be found on a boating accident?

– Sadly enough this tragedy is just the perfect example of "you can't control stupid."

– Some people do not understand the concept that people can drink responsibly. They think anyone that drinks automatically starts looking for the vehicle so the can drive drunk.

– I wonder if there was no alcohol how many thousands of lives would be saved.

– I use to be a drinker until I wised up. So explain to us what a responsible drinker is

– Operating any kind of vehicle/machinery while under the influence of alcohol or any type of drug (prescribed or otherwise) is the act of a fool. It looks like Lake Lanier needs to amp up the police force. There are far too many accidents up there.

– This is no different than drinking and driving ... or driving after taking your prescribed pain medication or any other substance that can impair your ability to operate heavy machinery. It's not the substance you need to punish, it's the person who made the choice to mix two incompatible activities.

– What is casual drinking? You have a definition for that? I bet he was casually drinking while casually driving his boat.

– So far the guy was charged with speeding and BUI ... I don't know if he was in a no-wake zone or what, but I think the pontoon was sitting still when he hit it. And alcohol didn't cause this tragedy, the decision to drink while driving did. If the guy had docked his boat and had a few drinks or gone home before drinking, this would never have happened.