Feature Article February 27, 2002
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CommentarySnowmobiles on open waterby David BrisonI got to the narrows in Sharbot Lake on Saturday just in time to see another snowmobile get pulled off the bottom of the lake by its owner. Evidently he had run his machine on open water the whole length of the channel from the east basin, and was very close to being back on ice, when he paused to wave at people on the second bridge and went under.
This is evidently the third machine that has gone in this winter.
After
the machine was pulled out, one of the spectators showed everyone how
it should be done. He
went out on the west basin and approached the first bridge at a very
high speed. He proceeded
on open water under two bridges and the entire length of open water in
the east part of the lake. Id
say that he was on open water for at least of a kilometre.
The OPP say that they are unable to stop this practice of running the water, even though those doing it endanger their own lives, annoy people who live on the lake, pollute the lakes when they sink, and often require the services of the fire department cold water rescue units.
It seems to me that snowmobiles are being used as watercraft and ought to be under the same regulations as watercraft. There are fines for operating watercraft without permits and without having life jackets. In addition, when they have to go out in a boat to pull the machines off the bottom (this usually takes at least an hour), life jackets arent available. We have pictures of this, but so far no one has been charged.
If
a machine were to hit one of the concrete bridge abutments at the
speed they are travelling, the result would not be pretty.
I was standing on the bridge when the aforementioned
boat/snowmobile passed under.
No one was directing traffic there were snowmobiles on the
other side running the water. One of them could have chosen to go under the bridges from
the other direction. Again,
the result would not have been pretty.
A good many of my friends and neighbours think that this is not a high priority problem. They dismiss it as boys being boys. I disagree and think that the community ought to do something about it.
What do you think?