Snowmobile - Accidents and Safety

Accidents and Safety

As a result of their inherent maneuverability, acceleration, and high speed abilities, it requires skill and physical strength to operate a snowmobile.

Snowmobile injuries and fatalities are higher than those caused by on road motor vehicle traffic. Losing control of a snowmobile could easily cause extensive damage, injury, or death. A typical cause of accidents is when a rider loses control since they do not have a firm grip and do not realize how powerful it is. This sometimes results in the now riderless sled hitting objects such as a rock or a tree. Most snowmobiles are fitted with lanyards connected to a kill switch, to prevent this type of accident. However, not all riders use this device every time they ride their snowmobile.

It is also possible for a rider, for various reasons to lose their grip, swerve off a trail and roll the snowmobile and/or crash directly into a rock or tree. In areas they are unfamiliar with, riders could crash into suspended barbed wire or haywire fences at high speeds and each year a number of serious/fatal accidents have been caused in this manner.

Each year, riders are killed when they hit other snowmobiles, automobiles, pedestrians, rocks, trees, fences, or when falling through thin ice. About 10 people a year have died in such crashes in Minnesota alone with alcohol a contributing factor in many (but not all) cases. In Saskatchewan, 16 out of 21 deaths in snowmobile collisions between 1996 and 2000 were caused by alcohol. Wrestler Lindsey Durlacher died in 2011 following surgery for a broken sternum he sustained in a snowmobile accident.

Fatal collisions with trains can also occur when a snowmobile operator engages in the illegal practice of "rail riding", riding between railroad track rails over snow covered sleepers. Inability to hear the sound of an incoming train over the engine noise of a snowmobile makes this activity extremely dangerous. Another cause of serious injury or death is colliding with large animals such as moose and deer which may venture onto a snowmobile trail. Most such encounters often occur at night or in low visibility conditions when the animal could not be seen in time to prevent a collision. Also even when successful, a sudden maneuver to miss hitting the animal could still result in the operator losing control of the snowmobile.

A large number of snowmobile deaths in Alaska are often caused by drowning. Because of the cold in many parts of Alaska the rivers and lakes are usually frozen over during certain times of the year in winter. People who ride early or late in the season run the risk of falling through insecure ice, and heavy winter clothing can make it extremely difficult to escape the frozen water. While a snowmobile is heavy, it also distributes its weight at a larger area than a standing person, so a driver who has stopped his vehicle out on the ice of a frozen lake can go through the ice just by stepping off the snowmobile. The next leading cause of injury and death is avalanches, which can result from the practice of Highmarking, or driving a snowmobile as far up a hill as it can go.

Risks can be reduced through education, proper training, appropriate gear and attention to published avalanche warnings. When going by snowmobile, it is recommended that a rider have a helmet and a snowmobile suit.