So now that riding in wisconsin is pretty much done, we ended up with only 23 fatalities this season. So much for being the deadliest year on record.

Although unfortunate, I think that this is a level that is inevitable when you have a good winter like we had this year. (IMO)

Here are the stats from 2005-09

2009- 23
2008-25
2007-26
2006-36
2005-37

Good job to everyone for being safe after the December start that we!

Anyone want to bet the dnr will say it's all because of the night time speed limit being in place?

we all know that will happen even though more that 30 percent of the deaths were during the daytime.

I don't really care care about that speed limit anyway. they don't enforce it so I don't have to worry about following it.

Last year I was a bit worried about the speed limit but this year I gave it zero consideration in the 3400 miles I put on so far. I don't speed during the daytime for safety reaons so I need my triple digit fix once in a while.

They enforce it around my area. Know of a few of our club members that got pinched.

How do you figure we had a good winter? Last year we got spoiled, was still good trails in dane and columbia this time last year. Now that was a good year. We havn't had much for riding since late january????

Well I managed to find a way to put on over 3500 miles so it was a good winter for me. I ride SE wisconsin trails and got over 1500 miles in that area alone

Its true that south wisconsin riding was better last year but we also had 100 inches of snow versus 55 inches this year. You cant count on that every year.

You were lucky to get that many in for sure. We only got up to ride twice and had to cancel three other weekends because of weather, and one because of -20 degree weather. We just have a tough time going with our little kids when it is that cold. I think everyone had a let down after the great start to the season. With marginal trails(even up north) after the 10th of February and the economy taking a toll on some riders, the overall miles driven was probably down for the year

You stated that 30% of the accidents happend during the daylight hours and that is true. The unfortunate part of that is that more than half of those were alcohol related. One guy was .344 at 10:00 AM when he was killed. If you noticed this year the DNR does not add alcohol if the victim was under the legal limit. Most of the alcohol related deaths were not even close, they were waaaaaaaaay over the limit, so it was not a near miss, or just one too many.

Anyway, my wife and I are heading off someplace tropical to signal our end of the season and get a break before our business transitions into summer. I hope everyone has a great, and safe summer, time for golf, and some great memories about the season that ended far too early.

JV,
It was no luck on the 3500 miles. Fortunate for me, I dont have much tying me down so the wife and I can go pretty much at any time. When their was snow, we rode every chance that there was. The hardest miles to get were the ones in se wisconsin. You dont know how many times that I would go into work on 2-3 hours of sleep. Was it worth it?......YES

As for the accidents, lets get back on that in November. I need a few months to gather facts so I can crush any statement that you make. (Although the above seems to be TRUE!)

Have a good summer, tell all your illinois friends to stay away from Miller Park, and try to give up on that liberal thing... LOL

Jason

You have a great summer too. I would only come up to watch a game if the Sox were playing an inter-league game. The chance to get together with my brother and watch my two favorite baseball teams from the comfort of a four top in left on the balcony of TGIF is a great way to spend some entertainment cash during the summer. If I came up any other time it would be to see the Brew Crew pound the hapless Cubs into the ground again. I feel bad when all those losers Cub Fans travel to watch their team get beaten all the time. I'll stop here before I say something that may offend some fan from a team that has not won a Championship in over 100 years.

You are very lucky that you are still able to go when you and your bride can. Someday in the future you will wrestle with kids and schedules and many other things that get in the way of you going. It also helps that you can get some of your riding in from your door. We have talked many times about moving back up north and giving my kids some of the same quality of life opportunities I had when I was growing up. We have three businesses that we own and another that I have a hand in, so these obligations keep me here for now. Yes, they also dictate why some of our weekends get skewered at the last minute too. In this economy you have to be on top of that stuff all the time. I am certain when that time comes you will probably look at it the same way we do and not trade it for anything, even at the expense of a few missed weekends.

You have certainly made the mistake thinking I am some liberal, far from it. When you think I am looking at more laws, you have also mis read me. When the state enacts laws that are cut up by the Tavern Lobby so that they make the laws unenforcable, that bothers me. Window dressing some law, and putting the choke hold on enforcement is just useless. Let the LEO's do their job, and hopefully snowmobiling as a whole will benefit.

When the headline reads that 23 SNOWMOBILERS died this year, that really bothers me. Same goes for those panty waste freaks in Waupaca that ran down those deer. The headlines read SNOWMOBILERS, and that blows. The stigma that snowmobiling and drinking go hand in hand has to change. As snowmobilers we need to do whatever it takes to change that perception. There is no other recreational activity that still has the perception of drinking alcohol associated with it as closely as snowmobiling. The percentage of people that died this year on snowmobiles that were over the legal limit went up over last year, that is the trend that we need to change. Unfortunately as responsible snowmobilers we all get lumped together with the small percentage of riders who will forever lack the proper respect for snowmobiling, and that is how we are all judged. That in itself probably bothers me more than anything.

Have a safe enjoyable summer,

JV,

Well I can accept those answers for now. We will get in a little deeper come this fall so be well prepared because you know I will be....LOL
Regarding the liberal comment, I had to throw one more at you before the summer hits, no offense.

By the way, ChiSox will be at miller park June 12,13,14

WAUSAU (AP) - The Department of Natural Resources says two-thirds of the 23 snowmobilers who died in crashes in Wisconsin this winter were too drunk to legally drive a car.

The number of deaths is down two from a year ago. The average for the past decade is 28 fatalities each winter.

But Michael Cerny of the Wisconsin Snowmobile Recreation Council says 23 deaths is still way too many and the state has a long way to go in making snowmobiling safer.

Cerny says the council is moving closer to recommending that drunken driving on a snowmobile affect a violator's driver's license. Other states have already done that.

Under current Wisconsin law, snowmobilers can receive a ticket for $627 for driving a snowmobile, recreational vehicle or boat while intoxicated. The tickets have no effect on individuals’ drivers licenses, according to Eddy.

The DNR is working with the governor’s Snowmobile Recreation Council, however, to change the law so receiving an operating while intoxicated citation on a recreational vehicle would have an effect on citizens’ drivers licenses, Eddy said.

Gov. Jim Doyle is in support of such proposals, according to spokesperson Lee Sensenbrenner.

Republican lawmaker Robin Vos, R-Racine, said he is hesitant about such a plan.

“We want to make sure there are stiff penalties for people who drive intoxicated, but tying them all together might be difficult,” Vos said. “My concern is that people who drive drunk … on a recreational vehicle … it would be hard to say they can lose their license and not drive to work because they had a problem on the snowmobile trail.”

Vos added he hopes to see more specifics on the plan before the final decision is made, including who would be entitled to give out tickets to the snowmobilers.

During the 2007-08 season, fewer than 80 individuals received citations for driving a snowmobile while intoxicated, the average yearly amount, according to the DNR report.

"All of them (the deaths) are heartbreaking," Eddy said Tuesday. "Most of these accidents, people are riding as a recreational activity, so it's usually a family member or friend that comes across them after the accident. It's very traumatic."

Unlike Wisconsin, Minnesota has a day and night speed limit of 50 mph, something that's been on the books for three decades. Here, snowmobilers can drive any speed during daylight hours, while the nighttime speed limit is 55 mph. However, the nighttime speed limit is in the second year of a three-year temporary rule.

Eddy would like to see it made permanent, because speed was a factor in almost three-quarters of this winter's accidents.

In Michigan, a drunken snowmobile driving arrest is like a motor vehicle OWI - it counts six points against a driver's license, said Michigan DNR spokeswoman Mary Dettloff.

In Minnesota, the first snowmobile drunken-driving arrest doesn't affect a driver's license, but if someone with a snowmobile OWI drives drunk behind the wheel of their car, the snowmobile conviction can be used as a penalty enhancer, said Maj. Roger Tietz, operations support manager in the Minnesota DNR Law Enforcement Division.



The DNR's Gary Eddy says 70 percent of the dead riders had been drinking, and speed was a factor in 74 percent of the deaths

I'm not a math whiz or anything, but by my calculations, the average bac of the people who died this year was .13 compared to last year's .09. It's not getting better.

GroomerBob you are correct!

IT IS NOT GETTING BETTER AT ALL!!! We need to make a stance. We as a snowmobile community need to say this is NOT ALRIGHT.

Write, call, visit your senators, your state reps, the governor and tell them your thoughts. I know the AWSC has its agenda for tomorrow but they are not the majority here. The AWSC is plus or minus 30000 members who may not all snowmobilers. We have 220000 plus registered sleds, so the majority of the riders are not members of the AWSC and we (the majority) need to call out for change.

I do not care if your are a AWSC member or not... we as a community need to make the change.

I know that I have brought up my thoughts on this board, to my legislators,my senator, to the AWSC, to the DNR, to the Governors SRC, to Governor Doyle, and on the news.
If you want to make a difference in our sport speak up to the people that are making the decisions.

Flame me if you want but you know what I am trying to make a difference in the sport I love.

The spped limit is not meant to save anyones life. It is meant to give the DNR a reason to pull you over to check see if you have been drinking. My "favorite" warden told me "not to worry about the speed limit it is just to get the drunks". those were his exact words. I see though in the outdoor news he managed to give a few speeing tickets.

Well,
I am not a math wiz either, but when I see that 23 people died out of 220000 registered sleds, I think that is a really low percentage. Compared with ATV's we are getting closer. 24 atv fatalities in 2007 out of 300,000 registered atvs. And about twice as many people die on Motorcycles each year in Wisconsin then compared with snowmobiles. 250,000 registered mc and ~ 70 deaths per year. I say leave it alone. We seem to be doing just fine comparatively speaking.

We are NOT doing fine.

Do you know that we have been at the top of the lists for the most deaths (in snowmobiling) for a long time now? To add to that we are the 3rd highest in registration for the USA.

Michigan and Minnesota both have more registered sleds then WI and they have a lower death rate.

So far MI has 20 deaths for 08-09

So far MN has 9 deaths for 08-09


ATV's look high but I do not have a good knowledge on the comparison.

As for motorcycles they are driven on public roads and highways and can not be compared.

Well,
WI has averaged 28 deaths per year over the last 10 years and MI has averaged 31?
How is that lower? I don't like to argue too much about this, because mother nature controls the number of snowmobile deaths far better than any law would. One of the reasons I snowmobile because I don't have some dumb a$$ in Gov't telling me what I can and can't do. I can think for myself and for some reason, that bothers some people. Now, I don't condone drinking and operating any type of motor vehicle. More laws will not fix this. In case you haven't noticed, Wisconsin is also has the highest number this year of plain dummies on sleds. Killing Deer, ducks, other animals with a sled. Maybe Darwinism wouldn't be such a bad thing in these cases. Do you think any of the Idiots who did these things would care about other laws?

With WI having an average of 27.5 deaths for the past 12 years (95-96 07-08) does not mean that we are nessicarly on the right track (there is an upward trend shown). When you average anything you are taking a cumlative number and dividing it, so taking WI as an example. here are the raw numbers 22,34,21,20,39,26,15,26,25,37,36,26,25 and this year 23.

Mi has some HIGH numbers 47,42,40,33,39,39,33,46,29,26,24,20,24 and 20 this year, but they are going down. Look at the last 5 years for both states, WI is higher.

Looking at the % of fatalites that involved alcohol in MI fatalities, 06-07 was 60%, 07-08 was 39%, have not found the data from 08-09.

In WI 06-07 56% , 72% 07-08, and 08-09 70%.


Sorry to say but the government is involved in all areas of our lives, including snowmobiling. I respect that you have an opinion on this, and we all should but the raw numbers in the situation do not lie.

The idiots who killed all the animals were not drunk but Im sure if they were it would have not made a difference. There were laws inplace that these acts fell under and the offenders are being punished in as strict as possible, but yes the laws did not stop them from doing these acts.

Instead of saying that laws will not fix our issue, come up some ideas and propose them to the Govenors Snowmobile council becasue ignoring this is not the answer.

Drawing attention to our sport on pupose to the state saying we have a problem doesn't seem like the route to go. I do not know what route to go because these people are going to do what they want anyway no matter what the law says and i also believe a fair percentage is luck each year with mother nature. I do not drink by the way, so go ahead and critisize my thinking, and at the end of next season, show me how much the bitchin and new laws worked. It will not change, people speed and drink in there cars, i doubt they'll behave on a sled. Sad but true. Sorry, just sick of the bad publicity we bring on ourselves.

This is becoming a pretty good discussion. Here is what I believe. I believe that any number of deaths above 0 is bad. I would much rather have the AWSC get a bunch of members together without the help of the state gov't and come up with a solution. Maybe there own patrol. Somewhat like how groomers are operated. I think the revenue generated would pay for itself and I also think that we as a group have a better understanding of the mindset of most of our fellow snowmobilers. I just think that when gov't sees a way to generate money, they slowly exploit it.

I think that sounds like a very good idea. My reply stunk and i know that. I guess it's just frustration. I just don't want to see this sport get too 'policed'. A free for all isn't going to work either i iknow. Enforcement, they just can't afford it so i'm told, so it's up to us. If there were only one or two officers in your county(Police) would you worry about drinking and speeding on the way home? Put a DNR person on every corner like city police, and i bet it'd get better. Take away your right to ride your toy like they were talking about and that'd make me think!

What is the big deal if we do have the most deaths? Are we as a state getting penalized for it? Not that i know of. Why do we NEED to get it lower? Bragging rights? Will we get some type of reward? I don't think 23 out of 220,000 is bad at all. That's less than 1%. How is that so bad? And 7 of the deaths were out of staters. I still don't see why so many people thing this is such a HUGE problem. I guess some people just have nothing better to do in life than worry about what other people do. Some people are just like that. The ones that worry about it are probably their local town gossip queens too that have to know what everyone is doing, and criticizes everyone for what they do.

I dont think that 23 deaths is all that bad either. Granted, we'd like to see 0 deaths, but no matter what you do, you will always have people who feel the need to push their limits, take chances and/or ride drunk.
While I do think that most of those deaths are a direct result of drunken snowmobiling, I dont see any way you are going to prevent that. Look at all the law enforcement we have on the road and people still drive their cars drunk all the time.

This actually in place in Canada, and it works! I have proposed this to the AWSC and the government but there has been no takers.

The big deal is that people are dying, plain and simple.
For most people when you are not directly affected by the situation it really does not matter.

I am trying to make a difference because I almost became a statistic of some other idiot, and this crap needs to stop.

People die every day and no amount of laws or regulations is going to stop that. Snowmobiling is a dangerous sport and every time you throw a leg over your sled, you accept the risk and accept the fact that you might not come home that night.
If thats a risk you are unwilling to accept, maybe its time to hang it up and spend your winters riding the couch instead of riding your sled.
Ive known people who have gotten killed in snowmobile accidents. It happens and anyone who thinks that any amount of rules or regulations is going to change that isnt being realistic.

You are at risk every day when you wake up and go about your day so I guess I should sit and do nothing, and even that can put me at risk.

Maybe it is time for attitudes to change about the sport...

Laws are part of our country, we create laws to help rectify issues. Laws will not be the all out answer, but it is a stepping point.

Again as I have said many times if laws are not the answer then what is?

Sorry to say but it is not going to stop. I am the leader of our group and I have alot of near misses each year. Last year was the worst. I had to jump off the sled couse I had 2 idiots come down the trail( a hill) at me. The first kid got stopped but the second kid missed me and my sled by inches. His snow flap actually rode up my hood.

I was so pissed/scared that even this year I was not wanting to ride. I manged to get 600 accident free miles. I had some near misses of people on my side of the trail but that is a norm for the area I ride in and I ride as far right as I can in the corners. On some spots it is the flattes and smoothest.

SO I know what you are saying and the point you are try to convey but I don't think it will help. People are going to ride they way they see fit.

You can't outlaw stupidity and carlessness.

I don't have the answers you arae looking for. The dnr/cops can regulate the laws on the books now, how do you expect them to enforce more?

True True!

Correct the DNR and police do not have enough man power to enforce now. I have proposed several ways to get more funding to the DNR for more patrols, and I have spoken to Mike Cerney about these. Mike did bring some of these issues up at the last governors and there maybe some progress in getting more funding to the DNR and police for patrolling.

I hope you realize that most of the funding will come out of the snowmobilers trail fund. SO that means less $$$ for grooming and less $$$ to the county alliances for trail maintence, brushing and marking.

Bottom line is no matter how many laws you have, you always have them few idiots on the trails that suck a few beers down and think they are racers and speed down the trail with no respect for anyone, they are the ones that are fatalities. You always here them say rules are made to be broken.

Nature or god or whoever has a way of cleaning out the bad seeds from our population. You liberal idiots that keep protecting the stupid are just letting them breed more idiots every year so it will get worse and wore as time goes on.

But all jokes aside, you cant argue with these guys because all they are going to tell you is the same shit over and over...."More laws...no personal responsibility....somebody else find a way to keep me safe because I am all talk and cant do anything for my self.......bla bla bla "
The best part too, when you bring up a valid point like "More laws are never going to affect someone who has nothing to lose and these are the guys that are .37bac hitting trees", there answer is ...."Well we still need more law enforcement" WTF

Why dont you big mouth d-bags get out there and do something about it. If you see a drunk going to ride his sled, offer him a ride home instead. If he refuses then get his registration number and call the police. You may even get a reward.

God help that you would EVER do something for yourself.

I have a great idea on how you can get some funding for more law enforcement. You sould get all your liberal buddies together and sell t-shirts. They could say..."Please protect me becasuse I am to useless to do it myself"

Or, you could ride on your club trails in Milwaukee?

thats a real inteligent response.

Umm last time I checked I was not a liberal.

How about this when you can learn to have a debate with out personal attacks hit me up, but until then shut up.

Like I said ATTITUDES NEED TO CHANGE

Not if it was setup correctly. I proposed a simple $2 dollar raise in the registration (going into a separate fund) for additional funds but Bill Schumann said they do not want to raise fees.

BUT now the AWSC is talking about proposing a fee hike of 233% to $35 a year (versus the current $15 a year) for non club members, and no hike for club members.
Taking my recent update the AWSC has around 18000 members and the state registration is 220000, even if you get 1/2 of the 220000 to join the AWSC that is still going to give the segregated funds account a large boost. What will the AWSC do with that money? It has not been presented.

As was said, you can pass all the new laws you want and add as much law enforcement as you want, but its not going to make a difference.
You are still going to have the people who think the trails are their own personal racetrack and who decide that its "cool" to ride drunk. If those people want to ride like that and end up getting hurt or killed, so be it.
I do what I can to stay safe while out on the trails (not riding too fast for the conditions, wearing a Tekvest and staying on my side of the trail) but you cant force people to ride safe and smart.
I do agree with you that attitudes need to change, but I dont see it happening. Studies show that Wisconsin has a drinking problem (we have the highest number of DUI arrests in the entire country) and youd be a fool to think that isnt having an effect on snowmobile fatalities.
Like I said, snowmobiling is a dangerous sport. If I were to ever get hurt or killed while on my sled, especially if I were riding faster than I should have, I would not expect anyone to feel sorry for me. I know the inherint risks and I accept those risks.

I suppose it would work if that was the case but I am skeptical about the added money they want from the sledding fund.

I think in MI and MN you see the same thing "people who think the trails are their own personal racetrack and who decide that its "cool" to ride drunk", obviously it seems more apparent in our state.

I also do the same, I ride with a tek vest and ride with in my limits and the conditions, and correct there is no amount of laws or policing that can force everyone to do the same, BUT these same people that are breaking the laws should have to be penalized if caught.

Yes the state does have DUI issue no matter what area is being looked at, and a good amount of riders (I do not have this number right now but can get it) that have been caught on a sled drunk also have priors in a automobile.

Yeah I agree if I am the one screwing off an hurt or kill myself then it is my fault.

Look at all the people who get killed every year on motorcycles. Id bet its a lot more than get hurt on sleds, yet you dont see the outcry in the media to add do things to reduce motorcycle fatalities.
IMO, all this is little more than an attempt by the tree huggers to demonize snowmobiles. Its much the same as it is with the anti-ATV movement. You have a handful of people with too much time on their hands who feel that if they dont enjoy something, no one should.

Not sure don't ride bikes. For the bikes I think that the only time people want to address anything is when Harley has a festival... IMO just to draw negative views on Harley riders which is BS.

I know that on the ATV's their is (atleast in our area) a trail patrol that is citizen based...

Also with both (and correct me if I am wrong on the ATV part) both of these sports majority of time utilize public lands. A cycle is a licensed machine on the highways, and ATVs and off road cycles use public lands. What I am getting at with that is they don't have a trail system setup as extensive as the snowmobiles (going on private and public land).

Wow, you are full of great comments. That explains a lot!

Just like octane said, if you and your friends really are worried about saving lives, maybe you would be concerned about auto, cycle, atv, etc deaths too.

No amount of laws are going to change the actions of people who dont care or have nothing to lose. If you are going to get drunk and drive home anyway, I would rather have you drunk on your sled instead of driving your car. At least you will most likely be hurting yourself, not your passengers or other people in cars on the road.

I agree that there is a problem here but the people that are going to get punished with more laws are the taxpayers and snowmobile clubs. The drunks that have 5 owi's dont give a crap about what happens to them or they would have learned the first time. I dont know how many people that I know with even one or two owi's that still drive drunk. If you are going to do it once, you will probably never stop no matter what the penalty is.

The real people that can make changes are the citizens. Hold the bartenders responsible if they over serve and/or give a $1000 reward to people that aid in catching drunks. Make it so there are thousands of people out watching for the drunks instead of a few cops on sleds that have to patrol thousands of miles of trail. Then you will see some real results.

Actually I am full of great comments and I have been busting my a$$ to help my sport, so I do not appreciate the attacks that are un founded.

If you were at the Chula Vista this weekend (for the AWSC) you would have heard that this is not just "me and my friends" anymore.... Also the other areas (auto, cycle, atv, etc ) are being focused on by many other groups, and legislators. As Octane pinted out the state has a DUI issue no matter what the area we are looking at, and we can all agree upon this.

How will laws punish the taxpayers and the snowmobile clubs?

If you are going after the bartenders then you will need more stringent laws for this, a prime example is the case over in Franklin WI where they closed the bar for 90 days for over serving but are having difficulty revoking the bartenders licenses.
You are correct that if you offered up $ to catch these offenders we woudl have thousands of people watching out, but then where is the reward money coming from? Taxpayers, snowmobile clubs, bars?

Do you have good solid proof that the "other idiot" was actually drunk and not just one of the MANY joe snowcrosser wannabes riding over his head? Without solid proof of him being drunk, you can argue to enact all the laws you want, but they won't stop the joe snowcrosser wannabes. There's no laws against riding like an idiot even if you're sober and there won't be, because all the whiners are worried about is the guy that had a sip of beer kinda like how this post is headed. I've said it before, you can pass 100's if not 1000's of sleds in a day or weekend and half of them could be drinking and you'd never even know it. One guy is on the wrong side of the trail and the whiners cry foul and right away ASSUME he's drunk. How do you know? YOU DON'T! Plain and simple. If people decide to ride like an idiot, they're going to do it sober, drunk, laws, no laws. Just like speeders on the highways. Do the 65mph speed limit signs mean everyone goes 65mph or less? YEAH F'IN RIGHT.

One other question. If all 23 people that got killed this year hadn't had a single drop to drink, would you still be on here pounding your chest about how we need to do something to lower the numbers and if so what would you have in mind to lower the numbers then? I mean you don't know FOR SURE that any of the deaths would've been avoided if alcohol wouldn't have been involved(unless you're nostradamus). So what if we have 25 deaths next year with only 2 involving alcohol, then what? More and more laws until we can get deaths lowered for bragging rights or what?

Will answer post above then this one...

Yes I have solid proof, from the police report and the deposition from my lawsuit.

You are correct there is no way to know they What if's.

If we look at the way snowmobiling has come up; starting with no real trails, no grooming, not the safest sleds, and not really any laws, to now where we have great trail systems, grooming, and sleds that are a world safer, and yes there are laws, these were all progressions to advance our sport. The people who made this happen changed to sport and helped it evolve, and I am trying to say that we as a snowmobile community have the opportunity to do the same in this case.

Yes I am well for the OWI tie that is being proposed, BUT it does not mean that I think laws are the answer for everything in our sport.
If there were 25 deaths and 2 involving alcohol then there would need to be an answer on what attributed to the deaths. If it was education then would I be bring this up... and I also would be doing more to help. If that meant becoming a instructor, or helping a class or what ever was asked of me I would, and all in concern of making our sport better for all current rider and prospective riders.

I don't agree with this statement:
"I am well for the OWI tie that is being proposed"
all because of the fact that you DO NOT have to have a driver's license to drive a snowmobile. How hard is that to understand?!?!
Here is an example.
Here comes MR. "Non-US citizen" on a borrowed sled and gets pulled over for speeding and he is charged with OWI? Now what? They can't really do anything except fine him.
Then here comes MR "CDL" who also gets the in the same situation. He possibly looses his job and license. Who just had the stiffer penalty?
Remember, you do not have to have a DL to drive a snowmobile. You do not have to take safety courses for snowmobiles before being able to drive one...unless you are born after 1-1-1985. Thus a DL and driving a snowmobile are in no way related.

1FastXc,

Yes there is currenlty a law for riding like an idiot. DNR just has to use it. It's been around for some time. Not sure why the DNR didn't decide to use it instead of the 55mph rule as a means to stop people to check for DWI. I'm guessing it's to judgmental...

Mind you, I'm not taking sides here...just pointing out whats on the books

Take a look at 350.10(1)(a) unreasonalbe and improper speed


350.10 Miscellaneous provisions for snowmobile
operation. (1) No person shall operate a snowmobile in the following
manner:
(a) At a rate of speed that is unreasonable or improper under
the circumstances.
(b) In any careless way so as to endanger the person or property
of another.
© Without complying with all stop signs, yield signs or other
regulatory signs established by rule under s. 350.13 that are
located along snowmobile routes, snowmobile trails or other
established snowmobile corridors that are open to the public.
(d) In such a way that the exhaust and engine noise exceeds the
applicable noise level standard specified in s. 350.095 (2) © or
(d).
(f) On the private property of another without the consent of
the owner or lessee. Failure to post private property does not
imply consent for snowmobile use. Any other motor−driven craft
or vehicle principally manufactured for off−highway use shall at
all times have the consent of the owner before operation of such
craft or vehicle on private lands.
(g) Between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 7 a.m. when within
150 feet of a dwelling at a rate of speed exceeding 10 miles per
hour.
(gm) During the hours of darkness at a rate of speed exceeding
55 miles per hour. This paragraph does not apply after July 1,
2010.
(h) In any forest nursery, planting area or on public lands
posted or reasonably identified as an area of forest or plant reproduction
when growing stock may be damaged.
(i) On the frozen surface of public waters within 100 feet of a
person not in or upon a vehicle or within 100 feet of a fishing
shanty unless operated at a speed of 10 miles per hour or less.
(j) On a slide, ski or skating area except for the purpose of serving
the area, crossing at places where marked or after stopping and
yielding the right−of−way.
(k) On or across a cemetery, burial ground, school or church
property without consent of the owner.

How much was your fine when you got busted?