Never had issues with huge tankers, police boats etc - but I can count a handful of times super yacht (a boat longer than 40m) captains have been drunk, high or just absent when a vessel is in motion.
They try to go full speed down the west side of Roosevelt Island and are always stopped and turned back by a pair of NYPD small gunboats.
https://homeport.uscg.mil/Lists/Content/Attachments/1924/CGA...
Basically I'm curious if sea captains are held to similar standards as airplane pilots, or if poor boat piloting is only penalized when actual mishaps occur.
Most of my experience has been in the Boston Harbor, which depending on who you talk to is more dangerous than the hudson, but in my experience most of what they dislike on the hudson is erratic lateral movement. Basically, you're not supposed to meander or transit laterally unless you're a sailboat or a ferry. Police boats / coast guard will approach vessels quickly if it looks like they aren't aware of these rules.
That said, maritime rules are pretty vague. Basically, boats going one direction stay to the right, the opposing direction stays to the left. Situational awareness is important to avoid other slower / faster / larger vessels. "Share the road y'all" is the most succinct way to explain boating in a nutshell haha.
Wouldn’t that put them head-on? If a southbound boat stays to the right (west side) of a channel and an opposite direction boat stays left (also west side), that seems worse than everyone staying right.