The Ontario Provincial Police is warning people to take cautions after investigating four snowmobile deaths this season.
Despite many of the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs trails remaining closed due to weather, the OPP said it continues to see snowmobilers looking for trails.
“I’ve seen plenty of vehicles hauling snowmobiles looking for trails,” Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said in a social media post on Tuesday. “Most of the trails are closed across the province.”
The OPP’s warning about the weather impacting snowmobiling comes just a few days after a man in Georgina died shortly after falling through the ice on an ATV. York Regional Police have also dealt with two other snowmobile and ATV-related incidents in the last three weeks.
No ice is safe ice, said Schmidt, and the OPP has seen an increase in snowmobilers going through ice. This has especially been an issue with underlying water currents or air pockets being able to create thin ice, even in the coldest temperatures, which snowmobilers can’t see until it’s too late.
In the past 10 years, 158 snowmobilers did not make it home to their families in what were almost all preventable riding incidents, OPP said in a media release.
"Safe and responsible snowmobiling means not going out if there is any doubt about whether it is safe to do so," said Rohan Thompson, deputy commissioner, OPP traffic safety and operational support.
Schmidt said another issue due to the weather has been ice fishing-related incidents with snow and slush on the lakes, but a very thin amount of ice support underneath it.
“It’s far too dangerous to be out there on your own and especially on a vehicle, a pickup truck or a snowmobile,” he said. “Understand where you are and what you’re on.”
About 40 per cent of the snowmobile-related fatalities that the OPP has investigated in the past decade have been a result of people going through the ice, said Schmidt.
“This winter is certainly one of those seasons where you don’t want to venture out onto frozen water at all,” he said. “This doesn’t look like a typical February, enjoy winter appropriately.”
