Re: Snowmobiling
JHMoss (JHMoss@LAWYERNET.COM)
Thu, 5 Feb 1998 16:06:49 -0700
Duh!
Snowmobiling is not as safe as riding a bike. Snowmobiling is closer to
riding a motorcycle. 99.9% of the parents in the world would not allow
their kid to drive a motorcycle that can go 50 miles an hour. Yet it
happens all the time out here. 70% of our avalanche deaths are
snowmobilers. Most accidents happen because people are following to close
(in Colorado) and the snowmobile in front turns and the 2nd one hits a tree
or goes over a cliff. Granted the physical environmental impact on snow
without hitting trees is minimal. But I guaranty you I can walk out into
any 3-5 year growth of trees here and tell you if people have been
Snowmobiling. The tops are all gone.
However, they smell and are noisy. I do not want them barred from the
woods, I just am tired of slogging into to dig them out.
Bikes are human powered. You speed is limited to your ability to pedal.
Your breaking distance is based on your ability to pedal. The number of
deaths per year from cyclists hitting trees is no where near what it is for
snowmobiles hitting trees.
Youth should not be allowed on snowmobiles until they know what they are
doing. Three years ago I hauled out to a crash site where I watched a 14
yr. old kid eventually die from a ruptured spleen. His mother has partial
paralysis on one side. The kid had talked her into letting him drive. He
buried it in deep snow on the side of the trail. To get out he gunned it
and went over an embankment on the other side.
If you bike runs off the bike path you pick it up or shove it back on.
Most people can't do that with a snowmobile. They do not provide any
anaerobic activity that I can determine except to occasionally dig them
out.
Some communities are extremely dependent upon them. A lot of search &
rescue operations are dependent upon them. They save lives. Like guns,
cars, and motorcycles, in the right hands they are fun and beneficial.
Those hands need to be mature before they should be entrusted with a
dangerous weapon.
IMHO
Jim
Yours in Scouting
Jim Moss
12340 W. Alameda Pkwy., Lakewood, CO 80228-2841
Eagle Class of 69, Vigil, Denver Area Council
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
