Only a matter of time before this happened. A-Z with his Kubota RTV with Mattracks and recovery wagon was pulling in a wrecked orange AC firecat tonight when we were headed back to the truck. The owner of the sled was OK but hurt his knee in the crash. It looked like the sled was totaled. He said a guy came around a corner on his side of the trail he had to bail off his sled as the other guy hit his sled head on. The other guys sled was damaged but was able to limp it out of there. I rode on Thursday and Friday just after the 5" storm and could not believe how people just drive straight down the middle like it was a one way trail. Stay RIGHT people.

were did it happen?

i was surprised at the amount of people we saw yesterday on there side of thr trail.

I cant believe anyone is crazy enough to ride in Woodford on the weekend,..or anywhere else for that matter.

You've got that right weekdays only, I feel bad for the family folks who can only ride on weekends. Bad scene out there.

Just north of BN5

somebody should put a sign up at he beginning of each trail saying "BLAIR MORGAN WENT HOME, YOU SHOULD TOO IF YOU WANNA RIDE LIKE HIM!"

you know, did not see where "scootsrus" said the person who caused the wreck was riding like blair morgan, what he said was the person was on the wrong side of the trail. you can be driving 10mph, but if you are on the wrong side of the trail on a blind corner you will cause a wreck. It seems on these forums that every time some talks about an accident, everybody jumps on the bandwagon and starts bashing all of the so-called snocross wannabees.

i agree !! i guess im a snocross wannabee, i ride a 440 and i like to stand riding, i cant tell you how many times i ve run into bigger sleds on my side of the trail going way too fast for the corners,slow down people!! at least in the sharp corners,we all know your sleds are fast, but there is a time and place for speed.

Hmmmm, bashing snowcross wanabees? Thats because maybe 9.9 times out of 10 they are? I think if everyone is a slowguy that there would not be so many accidents. Whats wrong with bashing snowcross wanbees anyways? They have no place on the trail to begin with. I don't know why anyone would support snowcross wanabees on the trails! Thats what snowcross is for, the open class track, not the trails where people don't want to get in accidents. Most of these accidents are because of people either drinking, or riding too fast above their heads, without consideration or respect for others on the trail. So, I don't think "scootsrus" said anything about bashing snowcross wanabees, but they certainly have no place on the trails.

maybe the sign should read "check your attitude at the door"?

I agree that many people do ride out of control, or don't have alot of experience and ride over there head. But there are a lot very experienced riders out there that ride fast and have never been in an accident. Every time people who ride slow meet someone who is riding faster than them they assume that they are out of control and are going to wreck. I agree that people ride on the wrong side of the trail. but it is not just people who ride fast, I see more POKEASSES riding up the middle of the trail than anything else. I think a lot of people who ride slow do not know how to ride and when they meet other sleds they panick, but are scared to get to close to the edge of the trail. Most of the people riding fast have some confidence and know how to get out of the way. I have avoided many accidents by having to put a ski way off the trail and just pray there is not a stump or rock, i would much rather hit a stump or rock than another sled. I do not support snocross wannabes, what i am saying is alot of the riders that people refer to as snocross wanabees really are not at all. Its a stereo type that gets applied to often.

I think I might know who was in the accident. On my home from the Heartwellville lot around 4PM a guy on his F7 and a Black 600 Rev were headed up the trail as we were loading onto the trailer. Sounds like it might have been this guy.

Slow guy, that is a very valid Point! I do ride motocross, still compete, ride street bikes, etc...and have been riding sleds most of my life! I believe that I am pretty experienced, and never had an accident. That is very true though, even the people I met on the trails this weekend were absolutely out of control and I was the one getting out of their way even when they were on the wrong side of the trail. I do think many people are riding too fast, buying machines they that are too much for there experience level, and disregarding the public in general. But you are right, too many unexperienced people on the trails do cause problems, especially with new sleds, and they don't have enough hours to really understand the handling, just hitting the flipper and going without a clue at all. Appreciate that point, inexperienced riders do cause problems too..especially stopping in the wrong spots, i.e. middle of trail sleds next to each other, no room to pass. There are too many clowns out there with way too much HP just a thumb away from hurting someone else. That is another thing, if I am on the Motocross track and become injured its part of the sport, but everyone else has "qualified" and has similar experience to race in the event. To compete you have to qualify and have some serious experience. Too bad with riding sleds you can be the average JOE, go the local dealer and drop 10k, ride on the weekends out of control and think you are a pro, then go home. I am a VT native, but seriously, there really needs to be more checks and balances on the people that ride on the VAST trails other than just buying a TMA, especially being 2008. The sport has changed too much, sleds, HP etc.....Too many people really should not be on trails etc. I am not trying to be a jerk, but seriously, spending the 10k on a sled and buying a TMA should not be a pass to ride the trails anymore and heading out on the weekends without a clue because you sit behind a desk all week.

i am so glad,
i am one of the lucky ones
i only ride on weekdays and nights

if i could only ride on sat and sun,.. days
i would give up sledding

I just ride during the week too, but I have noticed that Fridays are starting to get crowded now.

I'm amazed that this doesn't happen 10 times a day every Saturday and Sunday. Absolutely amazed. I take it easy and stay the hell on my own side of the trail, and continuously have to slam my brake and brace for impact all day long, especially on Sundays. I absolutely can NOT understand how these accidents aren't WAY more common.

I would really like to see the local police do a hell of a lot more than just check registration & insurance at the same 2 spots all the time. Everybody knows where they are, so everybody slows down at the last second near BN5 and Airport road. Let's get some cops up in the trails, hiding at the blind corners, ticketing everybody who cheats these blind corners. These people are going to get somebody killed, and all the cops are doing is checking my insurance tags.

I was there happened sat morning about 9:00 up on the powerlines, state tropper told us about it said the guys knees were banged up pretty bad. People need to ride with some common sense! stay right and slow down when you can't see over a hill or around a corner, your not the only one on the trail! do you drive your car or truck like that? no exactly STAY RIGHT.

Spot On!

except that just wishing for it isn't going to make it happen. I may try to find time to attend some Snobusters meetings in the future and try to become actively involved with the idea of getting the police presence to change a bit.

you get the cops any more involved and it's going to mean shit for all of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that is the last thing we need!
if they implement speed limits i'll give up the sport.....it already sucks that we have to be hassled at intersections time and time again, the only problem with woodford area is the fact that there is only one main trail...it get's ridden toooooooooooo hard and toooooooooooo much. i put 265 miles on in IP this weekend and hardly met any sleds on the trails, but then again , they have lots of trails to disperse the masses.

it wasn't that long ago when there was only a few of us out on a friday.

now it's more like a saturday and with little to no mid week grooming the trails usually suck.

i guess it's time to make a change. maybe monday needs to be our new fri.

oh, and as far as i'm concerned, ride as fast as you want just stay on the right side of the trail!

it's been beaten to death RIDE RIGHT!

most of the people reading this dont ride fast and they ride right down the middle of the trail.

read that again YOU are the ones riding down the middle of the trails.

if you didn't there would be more tracks on the right side of the trail other than mine.

it's scarry i watch you move over when you pass me coming from the other direction and even with my right ski farther to the right than the groomer goes if i look at your tracks you'd be stuffing my left ski everywhere other than the apex of a right hand corner.

Well thank you, at least you guys understand.

"vt_polar" and "justforme" I noticed that both of you ride revs. last week on thread in the vermont section someone said that 90% of the people who ride out of control, or are snocross wannabees, ride revs. I found that to be the biggest line of bs i have ever heard. It just pissed me off and I felt like should try to tell it like is. I am sure that you guys would not apreciate being accused of being snocross wannabees just because you ride a rev. You bought a rev because they are the best riding and best handling machines available.

I think most all of the people on here understand to stay right. The problem is the guys who do not have a clue and just ride down the middle of the trail not realizing that they are helping turn the trail into a one line circus. Maybe VAST should publish snowmobiling 101 in VASTnews so all the members could read. I think that educating new riders is key in helping to keep things safe.

I think it's 100% correct. Most of the time when I see my life flash before my eyes, it's usually because I'm staring at the front of a Rev.

But I don't cast any blame on the snowmobile. The Revs are the most popular sled on the mountain, so it's only logical that the majority of the idiots will be on them too.

If you wind up dead you'll be giving up the sport by default.

I'm not in favor of slowing people down either. I get bored to death when I have to chug along at 35 all day, but in the last few years, there has been a huge surge in reckless idiots that aren't being dealt with in ANY way. I'm not advocating speed enforcement, I'm advocating "stay to the right" enforcement.

I strongly feel that speed limits will mean less people on the mountain, which isn't the result I'm after. I want safer riders, not less. But we still need to try and work with local law enforcement to help get this result. They're doing nothing about speed now, so I don't see why they'd be opposed to continuing to do nothing about speed, but still find a way to deter idiots.

We've had the local State Police attending our monthly county snowmobile meetings. They come and want to hear what kind of problems we are having and what areas we are having problems in, so that they can try to be where they are needed. I'm sure that if some of the local sleders came up with few locations where they could do "stay right" enforcement, that they would be happy to oblige.

Ditto. Two weekends ago I was riding In the NEK on a Saturday. I met a ton of sleds and everytime I met a sled on the wrong side it was a REV. I know some good people that ride REV's though who are very safe. I would safe over 50% of the rev's I met that were unsafe had a can on there sled. Direct Correlation? Maybe, Maybe not. One thing I did notice is that when I meet someone on the wrong side of the trail they are usually riding in a large group and they are all pushing each other.

I agree that radar traps will not help the sport, and eventually will deter most riders from riding the trails. If the troopers hang in one or two spots looking for riders not keeping to the right, the word will get out and everyone going thru there will be riding like an angel. What would help though, is if some state troopers would jump into a group and ride with them. Then, they would see the idiots first hand and be able to ticket them for failure to keep right, wreckless riding, etc. Then, the word would get out to make sure you keep right or you will be ticketed. No one would be able to tell where they are if they are moving around. It would only take one or two loops to nail ALOT of the idiots. Then, when these guys figure out that riding like idiots is going to get them fines and tickets, that in turn will bring the speeds down because they wont be hot dogging around every turn without any regard for other riders. The "idiots" wont know if it's you or me around the next turn coming the other way, or a state trooper ready to write them.!!!!!
Another plus about putting the troopers out in the trail would be to give the slower riders warnings about riding the middle.. I think it wouldnt take long before everyone was riding respectably.
Hey, I like to ride hard and enjoy riding with groups, but there are a few that are over the limits..

The biggest reason it's "always a REV" is because they were outselling all other sleds 3 to 1 for the past several years. And yes, I agree it seems to be REV's pretty often - BUT NOT ALWAYS.
So if one of these REV wrong-sided riders jumped onto a F6 does that mean they will instantly stay to the right?


In any case, even though I have a REV I think I'll stay right.

You have got to be joking. You want to ticket the "idiots", as you say, but the slow riders only get warned about riding in the middle. Let me get it strait, you think everyone who rides fast is an "idiot", but the slow riders are good people and just need a nince warning. That makes no sense at all, and is a double standard .
By the way, the troopers do ride the trails every weekend, and they do right tickets for wreckless riding. The problem is that wether or not someone is out of control can only be determined by an officers "opinion". A lot of the cops on the trail have not ridden very much and they don't really what wreckless riding is.

First of all, no where in my post does it say that everyone who rides fast is an idiot. I ride fast, but only when I have good visibilty and open trail in front of me. The "idiots" are the ones who ride fast and cut people off because of thier excessive speed thru the turns!!!!!
Again, no where in my post does it say that people riding the middle are "good people". But, they are probably novices or may even be out on a snowbile for the first time and most likely not familiar with the trails!!! Give them a break!!!!.. Warn them and let them know they need to stay to the right at all times.. This is a sport for everyone, not just for top notch riders who know the trails like the back of thier hand. Its not going to take that much effort into keeping them to the right. The problem is with the guys who have no regards for other riders.. I'm sure the first time you got on a snowmobile you werent riding the trails at the same speed you're able to ride at now.. Your not going to grow our sport with that kind of thinking.



Now thats the LAMEST statement I have ever heard!!!!
I think if a sled just missed a trooper by a few inches or he had to steer off the trail to miss an oncoming sled, there shouldn't be a doubt in his mind as to what he can write a summons for!!!

The cops are out in Woodford. Just last Friday they wrote a 367.00 ticket for a guy who ran(flew through) a stop sign at a intersection. I'm not going to say what sled he was riding but the Blair Morgan outfit he was wearing probably had an influence on the cop who wrote the ticket.

so when it's the trooper that almost hits you mid turn because he's the one out of control who gets the ticket.

who decides what speed is reasonable and prudent for the current conditions?

the cop with worn out carbides on a 5+ year old sled that he cant keep it on the right side of the trail at 35mph? or someone who knows which corners are 35 mph, which ones are 80-90mph and can keep there sled on the right side of the trail 100% of the time.

there are exceptions to the rule, i've passed (from behind) some cops capable of riding there sleds in excess fo 50mph and keep it on the right side of the trail.

i can and will continue to ride so far to the right my ski is usually past where the groomer goes.

if you ride down the middle of the trail, i will continue to pass you on the right.

I'm out there riding with my five year old daughter on the back of my touring sled and I hope that there are not "80-90 mph" corners out there. Most of us don't drive that fast on the Mass Pike, so why the heck would we go that fast through a corner in the woods with oncoming sleds perhaps six inches away from our left ski?

If the cops are writing tickets in excess of $350, they should be able to afford basic maintenance items for thier sleds.

[quote name='RMZrider' post='3644745' date='Feb 12 2008, 10:14 PM']If the cops are writing tickets in excess of $350, they should be able to afford basic maintenance items for thier sleds.



The funny thing is that the guy who blew through the intersection had no idea a cop was parked there watching him so a mile down the trail he stoped to wait for his buddy and the cop caught up to him and handed him the ticket

It looks like I'm going to the Snobusters meeting on March 1, and John put a section under "new business" for me to discuss this with the club. I'm going to make a new post about this and hopefully get some good feedback that I can bring to the meeting.

I think you and I are on the same page. Most cops can't ride. So how can they really say. I have met cops riding in the middle of the trail on more than one ocasion, and they are just like the rest of these guy on here, the look all pissed because they have to pull over. They do the same stupid shit, lock up the brakes in a panick when they meet sleds

There are no high speed corners in the VAST trail system, just idiots that think there is. There are a lot of insurance companies and hospitals that would agree with me. No rider is ALWAYS under control. That's impossible. No one is ALWAYS on the right side of the trail. Scaring another rider is not all that funny.
It may be a big joke when the "crew" gathers at the bar after the ride, but it's no joke when you attend the wake of a friend, or spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair, or facing manslaughter charges.
High speed riding is careless riding, and it doesn't matter how experienced you are. When control is lost and the rider is doing 80, someone's going to suffer big time. You can only hope he tastes tree bark and not an innocent rider.

That's because the money from the fines doesn't go back to law enforcement to buy stuff. All the money from the fines goes back to VAST.