Snowmobile safety pleas fall on deaf ears

By JON WILLING AND TOBI COHEN, OTTAWA SUN

Police and recreation clubs are wondering what more they can do to keep snowmobilers off thin ice.

"We as a police service are more than welcome to any suggestions or any feedback from the skidooing population as to how to make it safer for our riders because I don't know what to do any more," Ottawa police Staff Sgt. Rick Lavigne said.

David Parker, 36, of Constance Bay is presumed dead after the snowmobile he was riding Sunday night sank into the Ottawa River near Fitzroy Harbour.

Another Constance Bay-area man who was riding the machine managed to get out of the icy waters and walk into Fitzroy Harbour.

Police were at Fitzroy Harbour yesterday searching for Parker. Earlier this week they recovered the snowmobile the men were riding.

A preliminary investigation indicated the men were travelling toward the Quebec side of the river, but their destination isn't clear. "We think they got lost and weren't familiar with the area," Lavigne said.

Some people are known to take their snowmobiles over the river to bars on the Quebec side.

It's the second time in a week police have scoured the area for a missing snowmobiler. Brendan Nash, 20, of Kanata has been missing since Feb. 12 and is presumed dead.

Lavigne said snowmobile clubs need to help develop a solution to the problem.

But a local executive member of the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs doesn't know what more his association can do.

John Boals, a district manager of the area that includes Fitzroy Harbour, said the message they give riders is simple: If there's no trail marked on the ice, don't go on it.

http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/OttawaAndRegion/2006/02/23/1457714-sun.html

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