Rule 7 - Risk of collision

All available means shall be used to determine if risk of collision exists; if in doubt as to whether or not it exists, assume that it does!!

If your vessel has a radar and it is operational, it shall be used for long tange scanning and tracking(determine risk of collision early)

Assumptions shall not be made on the basis of scanty information, especially scanty radar information

To determining if risk of collision exists, take into account:

• whether the compass bearing of an approaching vessel does not appreciably change (constant bearing - decreasing range)
• Size of the vessel
• range of the vessel