This year's WI death tally

[AlumaDoo]

Here's a link to one of the Madison news stations. Looks like people still insist on riding while drinking. I have a hunch drunk riding will soon be attached to our drivers licenses.
http://www.channel3000.com/news/15767147/detail.html

[DamageInc]

Here's a link to one of the Madison news stations. Looks like people still insist on riding while drinking. I have a hunch drunk riding will soon be attached to our drivers licenses.
http://www.channel3000.com/news/15767147/detail.html

You can read the details here, if interested: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/es/enforcement.../snowstats.htm

When the DNR claims that "alcohol was a factor in 16 of the accidents", that's a bit deceptive. They claim that alcohol was a factor even with a BAC that is so small that it obviously was not a factor. There are some people on the list who had BAC of .024, .011, and .03. Sorry, but those people lost their lives due to bad judgement, and the alcohol had nothing to do with it. There is also a .049 and .064 on the list (still well below the legal limit for evidence of intoxication, but enough that it might effect some people). The DNR loves to push their zero tolerance ideology on everyone, but the fact is that many of those accidents (where they blame alcohol) would have happened anyhow, even if that person was drinking pepsi.

[YamaDooed]

The one thing I noticed by looking at the statistics was the highest profile accident had a BAC of .035... I'm not sure if thats a typo or not...

[Howler]

You can count on it, but that won't be the worst of it. ANY violation regarding Drinking(which I'm strongly against while riding), speeding, or any other thing they can come up with. Obviously we should all be following common sense. I just get disgusted at the mis-representation of snowmobiliers, and idiocity of the minority doing what they are to put the sport in a bad light. They obviously don't understand what snowmobiling is about.

[one2race]

"Snowmobilers caught operating their sleds while drunk are fined, but the offense doesn't show up on their regular driving record.The state Department of Natural Resources' snowmobile safety administrator wants to change that."

My .02 cents,

Gary Eddy the state Department of Natural Resources snowmobile safety administrator needs to be reminded of the orginaization in which he represents, its the DNR not the DOT. The last time I checked, a DOT liscence is not, nor should it ever be required to operate a recreational vehicle on private land, club land or any other land for that matter. If Gary's interests are in this direction, he should join the DOT to help combat this valid problem which exists amoungst motorist on DOT maintained ground, the ground in which the majority of the U.S. population finances and expects laws of this nature to be enforced. Heck, make it easy and let the public decide in the next general election, as it should be with ANY law.

[slideways]

So would a separate license for a sled be a good idea?

Pro's: It would keep your DOT license intact- I happen to have a CDL so it definitely matters what can all affect my license! It could also be a tool to eliminate those who can't get it through their heads.

Con's: Financing would be via increased fees and taxes. Licenses have to be kept up and renewed. More bureaucracy=less fun!!

Feel free to toss in your 2 cents- I'm curious to see what the rest of you think.

[DamageInc]

"Snowmobilers caught operating their sleds while drunk are fined, but the offense doesn't show up on their regular driving record.The state Department of Natural Resources' snowmobile safety administrator wants to change that."

My .02 cents,

Gary Eddy the state Department of Natural Resources snowmobile safety administrator needs to be reminded of the orginaization in which he represents, its the DNR not the DOT. The last time I checked, a DOT license is not, nor should it ever be required to operate a recreational vehicle on private land, club land or any other land for that matter. If Gary's interests are in this direction, he should join the DOT to help combat this valid problem which exists amoungst motorist on DOT maintained ground, the ground in which the majority of the U.S. population finances and expects laws of this nature to be enforced. Heck, make it easy and let the public decide in the next general election, as it should be with ANY law.

I could not agree more. A lot of people need their license to make a living, and you can't start penalizing their driver's license for laws that they break that are not related to driving a car/truck on the roads. A driver's license is not required to drive a sled, and a driver's license should not be penalized for a violation on the sled. That's a slippery slope, my friends. Next thing you know, they will want to assess points on your driver's license for speeding on a sled. And don't kid yourselves....when this night time speed limit has no effect on fatalities, those DNR nazis will be pushing for a 24 hour speed limit. Count on it.

[DamageInc]

The one thing I noticed by looking at the statistics was the highest profile accident had a BAC of .035... I'm not sure if thats a typo or not...

Yeah, I noticed that too, but it must be a typo, since all the news reports were a very high BAC.