100 Mile Snow Safari Forum

Alcohol and speed are the two big factors in snowmobile deaths. For many years there have been laws in place about drunk driving on sleds, BUT for some reason there has been very little done about the speed!!!!! Why??? I do not think the Tavern League says let's have a drunk driving law, BUT no speed limit laws! By the way I own a bar and am NOT a member of the Wisconsin Tavern League.

You have to be 16 years old and go through extensive behind the wheel drivers ed. courses before you can drive a car 55mph on our highways, but you can take a course on the computer when you are 12 years old and drive a snowmobile legally, 120mph on a snowmobile trail during day light hours???????? Something here makes no sense to me!!!

And for those who say we shouldn't have speed limits because we do not have enough law enforcement people to enforce speed limits....I say, if we don't have enough officers, we might as well take ALL laws off the books!!! Makes about the same amount of sense to me!?!?!!?

Our gang has been sledding since the late '70s and the [U]only[U] time we've ever went over 50 mph has been on the lakes. On the typical trail in northeast Wisconsin, 30-35 mph is about all you can do, comfortably, unless you wanna push it, but there's always a corner coming up on these winding trail. Having said that, I still don't beleive we need any more "feel good" laws then we already have!:rolleyes: There seems to be no shortage of idiots in Madison or on the trails!:o As someone in another post said, the fools usually take themselves out anyway:sick:

There has been a law on the books for years about speed.
The law states that you can't operate a snowmobile in a careless manner so that it endangers a person or property. So we really don't need another law, The DNR just needs to enforce the laws that are in place.

About the 12 year olds. The DNR has change ther postion stating that anyone under the age of 16 should take an instuctor run course. Maybe they should have the same reqiurement as hunting were the 12-14 year old need to be within eye site of the parent. But most of the fatal crash victims are around 30-50 years old. So maybe it is not a good ideal have the kids watch the parents.

Don't forget that anyone both after 1985 needs to be snowmobile safety certified.

Safety and the regulation of it never sleep.
If you think that it will end with a night time speed limit you haven't been paying attention.
do gooders never rest....it makes them feel as if they have some purpose in life if they can regulate yours.
You know the type, they see someone having fun and enjoying themselves and deep down inside, they can''t stand it!
They seem to think that if someone is actually having fun , it must somehow be a bad thing.
You can take any activity in life, focus in on it and find serious flaws, and then of course to remidy these flaws you must come up with a plan to regulate it, until eventually your regulations have ruined the activity.

i dont think i would ride in wisconsin anymore if it was 55 mph all the time, because i would get a ticket every ride. I am not saying i am wreckless but 60-70-80 is usually my average speed for the day, unless the trails are real narrow and twisty. and i do liek going fast, i mean thats another part of snowmobiling is the adrenaline. but at night its all i can pretty much do (outrun headlight, and see deer every 100 yards) unless i know the trail is straight for a long ways.

doesnt minnessota have this law already? I thought they did, and alot of people dont ride there anymore because of it, they trailer to the UP or NW WI.

[QUOTE=robertslakekidrev600ho;1277]i 60-70-80 is usually my average speed for the day, doeQUOTE]

that's probably a little fast for about 80% of the trails in and around forest county .
couple years ago i got passed on the rr grade going to grand marais , i was going about 60 when 3 guys went flying by , a mile down the trail , 2 of them were sitting , third one was down the bank in the trees . stopped to see what happened , guy said he hooked a rut and turned left and could'nt stop . he was'nt hurt , but he did'nt ride his sled back .

i can show you a burnt tree near iron river with a cross with a name and date on it , it's on a 2 mile long straight , don't know what happened, but i guess he did'nt walk away from it . bad things happen at high speeds & when they do , you don't even get to ''kiss your ass goodbye" .

want to go fast , do it on a race track .
just remember , every time a snowmobiler gets killed some stuffed shirt wants to fix the problem , we don't need more laws , just more common sense used ,and if you have buddies without it , let them use some of yours .

Ok this topic will always be a touchy one no matter what happens. Personally, I would have to say that out of all the deaths that happen on snowmobiles speed would not have been the facter if the alcohol in the persons system was not impairing there judgement. Secondly, What they call speed as a result is what? How fast do you have to be going when speed is a facter? That 55 MPH speed limit will do nothing. There is not near enough enforcement out on the trails.

I understand that the bars need to make money and that the snowmobile market is a huge help. However, I do believe that something needs to change at the bars before the person even gets on a sled, not on the trail.

If a speed limit comes in for a 24/7 my sled is being sold and I am making my way to Madison to show this states government how much tourism money they are missing out on. Not only that but the amount of money that the DNR is going to be making.

Everyone has there own opinions. Lets be a STATE and come to a better compromise.

[QUOTE=05FireCat600SP;1280] Ok this topic will always be a touchy one no matter what happens. There is not near enough enforcement out on the trails.
I understand that the bars need to make money and that the snowmobile market is a huge help. However, I do believe that something needs to change at the bars before the person even gets on a sled, not on the trail.
[/QUOTE]
Absolutely! :thumbup:

IMHO:
I'd agree that speeds above 60 on the average are probably a bit high for a good percentage of the trails I've ridden. There are some select areas where you can momentarily burst beyond that with a modicum of intelligence, but it doesn't take long to reel those extended stretches in when you're zipping along at 80/90/100mph. Plus anybody that does that (myself included) takes somewhat of a gamble each and every time with respect to things that are out of their control: wild animals, falling trees, you name it. It's sort of a "swim at your own risk" deal. I think the night-time 55mph limit is wise, and I would support it as a permanent law. Just last week my dad and I were out for a night ride- we were coming up the NST between Wabeno and Padus road and I can attest from that recent experience that 55mph while the sky is dark is PLENTY fast; and that's in one of the more pristine areas where you CAN see/go faster. The difference in visibility is like day and night (coincidental pun intended). I don't think a blanket 55mph speed limit is going to make any significant positive impact. The difference between piling into a tree/deer at 55mph instead of 90mph is negligible. In fact if I knew I was going to crash- I'd just as soon be doing a higher speed and have it over with instantly rather than suffer for minutes/hours/days. The real issue is indeed using your head... something that seems to escape virtually every rider at some point.

Take a look at [url]http://dnr.wi.gov/org/es/enforcement/sa ... tats06.htm[/url]
At least 18 of the 36 fatalities last year involve people that were legally drunk at the time their blood was tested... several of them multiple-fold over the limit. I won't try to impress my no-alcohol tendencies on everybody else, but I will impress on them that they had better not be anywhere near a snowmobile or any other motor vehicle if they've been drinking anything. Of the other fatal crashes listed in last year's stats... several of them seem to be relevant to possible/undetermined BAC and or other controlling substances, and most others were instances of people not paying attention to what they were doing or being inexperienced, or just being plain stupid in the first place. There needs to be more enforcement of the existing regulations, with zero tolerance. In the last 6 seasons that I've actively ridden Forest county, I have yet to see a single DNR warden, let alone one issuing a rightfully deserved citation. No wonder people keep behaving stupidly.

just checked that dnr site out , sure is sobering . maybe they should send a list of fatalites along with your registration every two years , give ya something to think about.

i can say this past weekend though we went from my cabin on roberts lake up past eagle river, was a great time but there were some idiots out there. The corners are icy and people were fish tailing around corners and almost lossing it. I was flying along with me and my buddy, he is not as quick as me, so i wait for him at most stop signs. I was waiting there and these two guys that we had passed at a stop sign were behind him, well i let them by even though i knew they were slower but still faster than my friend. It was a yamaha Apex GT and a Rev GSX. well the guy on the apex was the leader and gave me the stare like he was hot ****, because my sled is real sharp and is modded. so he takes off with his friend so me and my buddy regroup. I am right there with them. they are hot-shoting out of the turns, sleds sideways (no studs) i am thinking to my self "we are going 35 mph why are they out of control?" they look back to see if i am still there, and the next turn the guy hits the brakes tries to bail and rolls it a good 3 times on the apex. i was thinking to myself, well i knew that was gonna happen by the way he was driving. its commen sense, they knew the trails were all ice. He was fine we stopped and helped him gather his broken windshield and bent bars. But he was pretty pissed, i just wanted to telll him to take it easy, just because he has a sled with 150hp and is as big as a tank doesnt mean nothing will happen to him.

speed is always a hot/sticky topic with everyone. My philosopy is ride at your own level. If someone is faster in your group who cares take your time, they will wait for you, its better off than ending up in a tree with either a totalled sled or a broken neck.