Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 69-9-502

  • Operate: means to navigate, be in physical control of, or otherwise use a motorboat or a vessel. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
  • Person: means an individual, partnership, firm, corporation, association, or other entity. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204
  • personal watercraft: means a mechanically propelled vessel that is designed to be operated by a person sitting, standing or kneeling on the vessel rather than being operated in a conventional manner by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling inside the vessel. See Tennessee Code 69-9-501
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Vessel: means every description of watercraft, other than a seaplane on the water, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. See Tennessee Code 69-9-204

A person may not operate a personal watercraft on the waters of Tennessee unless each person aboard the vessel, or being towed by the vessel, is wearing a United States coast guard (USCG) approved Type I, II, III, or V personal flotation device in accordance with the USCG approval label.