How dangerous is snowmobiling?

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Excitabletom

Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2006
Messages
137
Age
59
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
I've been riding about 30 years and never had a serious accident until December 11, 2010. (high rate of speed; immovable object; survival at night; ambulance; 8 broken ribs) This has me really thinking about the dangers of snowmobiling.

How many on here have had an accident that you would classify as "serious?"

Am I overly aware of crash stories now or have there always been plenty of stories? I will now wear a Tek Vest to ride; I never considered one before. Maybe I'm just getting old and cautious? (45 years old)

What do you guys think? More dangerous today or am I becoming a whimp?
 
TopGunnSrx said:
Way less than driving your car around the state.
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Yep. Avoiding alcohol and slowing down will up the safety factor a lot. And wearing a Tek vest really helps. Your ribs prob would have come out in way better shape.
 
In 30 years sleds have changed drastically! But i think you have too. your abilities and experience have got better along with the sleds. i think you were a victim of circumstance. 1 bad accident in 30 years? I agree with supersled along with better sleds we have better gear, spend the $ and use it. and as time goes by we all hope we get smarter & more cautious.
 
Even if you drive careful, things can happen... I had a good scare this winter in an area I've ridden hundreds of times. Maybe 2 miles along the 'wet' side of a river dike, more or less cropland. It was overcast, and visibility sucked. I was cruising along around 35-40 mph, feeling safe in this area because of the # of times I had been there...

What I didn't know was that someone had taken a snowplow and pushed an access road open on the dike. I hit that snow pile about 40 mph, and FLEW! A big jump is one thing if you are prepared, but when you have no idea and hit it sitting down, it will put the fear of god back into you! (visibility was that bad, I absolutely couldn't see it before I was 20 feet up...) Anyway, I flew about 8-10 sledlengths and landed more or less OK. I hit hard enough some random plastic cover pieces popped off, and my wrist hurt some, but that was it, no other damage. I IMMEDIATELY went and loaded, sledding was over for that day! I got lucky!
 
I find that even when you ride safe, there is always unexpected things that can happen....

2 years ago, riding on area roads near my house after a blizzard, I was doing about 45mph, when I came upon a big pile of snow in the middle of the road that someone had plowed from their driveway and left there. Needless to say, I went one way and the SRX went another!

And you always have the A-holes that don't ride the right side, then you come around a corner and LOOKOUT!!! That's what worries me.
 
Everyday of your life youre confronted with danger, and snowmobiling is not the exception. As with any off road motorized recreational activity there is a certain amount of risk that you must assume. I was in one hell of a wreck a couple years ago, actually the first year I was on my SRX 7 coming off of a PhazerII. We were coming back to town from a restarant called Bass Lake in the Muskokas and between there and another restarant called Memories of Muskoka I found myself in the bottom of an 8ft ditch, mashed the throttle due to falling forward and came up the other side doing about 90 on about a 120* angle in the superman position. Landed back on the trail let go of the machine and immediatly knew I was hurt. Knocked the wind out of myself, busted my bottom lip up (helmet was not the proper size and went flying), banged up my left shoulder and cracked my left ribs. I was in hurttown for sure, but I rode it out and got the sled home. I took all the abuse, the sled made it out unscaved. I was also doing about 80kms when all this happened with a posted speed limit of 50kms.
 
Came across a lot of crashes on the trail and been in alot of them too.... But been racing motorcycles and snowmoblies for sometime how so it comes with it ..Most of the time on the trail it speed and alcohol ... Best thing is to now your limits because you will never out ride the sled ... Respect what you are ridding because once you don't you are off it or into a tree
 
smokingcrater said:
Even if you drive careful, things can happen... I had a good scare this winter in an area I've ridden hundreds of times. Maybe 2 miles along the 'wet' side of a river dike, more or less cropland. It was overcast, and visibility sucked. I was cruising along around 35-40 mph, feeling safe in this area because of the # of times I had been there...

What I didn't know was that someone had taken a snowplow and pushed an access road open on the dike. I hit that snow pile about 40 mph, and FLEW! A big jump is one thing if you are prepared, but when you have no idea and hit it sitting down, it will put the fear of god back into you! (visibility was that bad, I absolutely couldn't see it before I was 20 feet up...) Anyway, I flew about 8-10 sledlengths and landed more or less OK. I hit hard enough some random plastic cover pieces popped off, and my wrist hurt some, but that was it, no other damage. I IMMEDIATELY went and loaded, sledding was over for that day! I got lucky!
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same thing happened to me this winter on the saginaw river. hit an invisible snowpile at high speed on my renegade. got lucky and even though i came off the sled i wasn't hurt and my sled stayed rubber side down. i was gunshy for the rest of the winter. but you never know what can happen. a friend of mine hit a bank a little too fast after crossing a little water on the river this winter and ended up shattering a lumbar vertibrae. you should obviously try to be as safe as possibe but it's impossible to remove all danger from any daily activity.
 
I think you all know my answer. Just one of my Doctors told me not to expect to be back to work this year.
If I ever am able to ride again......and I can bring myself to do so......a TEK vest will be on my person. I cannot afford another like my Dec 20th.
All I can say is...................GOD IS GREAT!
 
A couple of bucks said:
I think you all know my answer. Just one of my Doctors told me not to expect to be back to work this year.
If I ever am able to ride again......and I can bring myself to do so......a TEK vest will be on my person. I cannot afford another like my Dec 20th.
All I can say is...................GOD IS GREAT!
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Yes!! I myself was very lucky, it could have been alot worse, both for me and the machine. 3 months later and physically I was as good as new, the machine was good I took all the lumps, but it took some time for the confidence to build up again. The mental aspect is the hardest part to recover from after a bad accident.
 
I lost a nephew about 15 years ago in a single sled accident. He slid through river bend and there was glare ice, he caught something on the ice and flew off the sled the force of the impact explodes his heart, he was dead on impact. I had a close call this spring. But I've had more close calls in cars and other things. So I figure that we take risks everyday, hopefully they are measured and well thought out ones, and hopefully God keeps us safe in the mean time.
 
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Excitabletom said:
I've been riding about 30 years and never had a serious accident until December 11, 2010. (high rate of speed; immovable object; survival at night; ambulance; 8 broken ribs) This has me really thinking about the dangers of snowmobiling.

How many on here have had an accident that you would classify as "serious?"

Am I overly aware of crash stories now or have there always been plenty of stories? I will now wear a Tek Vest to ride; I never considered one before. Maybe I'm just getting old and cautious? (45 years old)

What do you guys think? More dangerous today or am I becoming a whimp?
Click to expand...

My answer would be this:
1. I also have been riding for @ 30 years
2.Life changing accident on Dec 20th.
(high rate of speed; immovable object; survival at night; ambulance; 12 brakes in the ribs)
3.I also have NEVER......and I mean NEVER, considered a TEK/BEE protective vest. (It'll never happen to me......I'm pretty cautious)
4. I will be 45 this year.
5. Sledding was dangerous when we were on..... BLIZZARDS, SPORTFIRES, LIQUIFIRES and El TIGRES. In fact, The 73 JDX4 SPECIAL that I just got rid of last year could get me in a pickle. We just thought that it always happened to 'the other guy'.
6. It's probably more dangerous today depending on the sled. My SX7 was(rest her soul)the best sled, and by far the fast,quickest and most responsive one I have ever had(with a couple of mods). Although the 79 El Tigre 500 F/A ranked righ up there with her in those catagories.
7. The long and short of it is.....
a)wrap your head around the FACT that your in charge of a powerful machine that will take your life or anothers.
b)Screw your head on correctly before taking control of that machine.
c) Enjoy the beauty that the good lord has provided us and be STEWARDS of the trails.
d) There are many others but that will be another post.

8. No....no .......no, your not being a wimp, it's just that your 'EYES ARE WIDE OPEN'.
 
A couple of bucks said:
I think you all know my answer. Just one of my Doctors told me not to expect to be back to work this year.
If I ever am able to ride again......and I can bring myself to do so......a TEK vest will be on my person. I cannot afford another like my Dec 20th.
All I can say is...................GOD IS GREAT!
Click to expand...
HE SURE IS!!! Glad you're getting better !!! Just so you know.. I called NTSB for a "transportation report" about 20 years ago and WALKING DOWN THE STREET (number 1 ) is WAY MORE DANGEROUS than snowmobiling..
 
I'm also Glad your recovering Dannyboy!!! Keep us Posted!!!
My friend Chris Was in A serious Accident this Winter,and hes lucky to be alive.He ended up taking the craziest wipe-out into a pile of trees,I have ever seen.I am happy to say he is making a recovery, and his fund raiser here In Whistler was a success. Click below to see the video.

It doesn't matter how long you been riding, if your not careful you can find yourself, in alot of situations you wish you weren't in. have Fun, But we always gotta remember to ride safe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIg7hVkJc_E
Thanks to Slednecks, for the Youtube footage
 
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