Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Snowmobile Complaints

With all the snow and the nice weather we've had, the snowmobilers have been out in full force.

I used to snowmobile every winter, years ago, until a spell of several seasons when we had little or no snow. I enjoyed the snowmobile experience very much, and I envy those I see zooming across the snowy fields.

But, as with any motorized sport, there are a couple of folks out there who have trouble following the rules, and end up spoiling it for the rest.

Our village's bylaws regarding snowmobiles, ATVs, and dirt bikes are quite lenient. They require riders of those machines to proceed out of the village by the shortest possible route using back lanes as much as possible. Their speed must be kept below 20 km an hour. When crossing a street or road the operator must stop his machine, check for traffic and proceed slowly across.  Riders must avoid private property.

At our last Council meeting, we addressed complaints from residents about snowmobiles on streets and on private property. I know that almost all the snowmobilers I see are obeying our bylaws, but there's always a few who don't comply.

Other municipalities faced with this problem have passed much stricter bylaws regarding these kind of vehicles. They require the riders to trailer their machines out of town before starting and riding them.  I think a bylaw such as that would be counterproductive and punitive to those obeying our current bylaws.

I would be against such a strict bylaw, but I only have one vote in five!  As the complaints increase in frequency the village council may be forced to act!

Tell me what you think.

1 comment:

  1. I would be against such a strict bylaw too, it is nice that snowmobiles don't have to be loaded on trailers to get out of town to play! I hope that some of the riders that don't obey the bylaws read this and know how lucky we are before it is too late.

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