By ROBERT IMRIE
Associated Press Writer
| Details from Study of 200 Snowmobile Fatal Accidents
By ROBERT IMRIE WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) -- Way past midnight, a young man leaves a bar on a snowmobile. Picking up speed in the darkness, he loses control on a curve and slams into a tree and dies. Scenes similar to that occur, on average, 20 times a year during Wisconsin winters, according to the profile that emerges from an Associated Press computer-assisted review of state Department of Natural Resources's records. Two-hundred fatalities since the winter of 1986-87 were studied: COUNTIES: Sixty-one of Wisconsin's 72 counties recorded a snowmobile fatality. Vilas County topped the list with 19, followed by Oneida, 15; Sawyer, 11; Jefferson, Iron and Burnett, eight each; Langlade, Lincoln and Waukesha, six each; and Ashland, Forest, Polk and Walworth, five each. Only Jefferson, Waukesha and Walworth counties are south of state Highway 29, an east-west road across roughly the middle of the state. SEX: There were 180 males killed and 20 females. AGE: Nine victims were adolescents, ages 5 to 12; 20 were teen-agers; and 91 were in their 20s, meaning 60 percent of the people killed on snowmobiles had not yet reached their 30th birthday. Only 17 victims, or 9 percent, were 40 or older. The oldest was 60. CAUSES: The top two causes of fatalities were collisions with trees, 80, and drownings, 28. Twelve people died following a collision between two snowmobiles; 12 died after their snowmobiles collided with a car or truck. Other fatalities occurred due to collisions with a deer, a cow, a bridge, a cabin, a trail groomer and a farm plow. PASSENGERS: Thirteen victims were passengers on snowmobiles. ALCOHOL: Alcohol was detected in 139 victims, or 70 percent of them, of which only 31 were not legally drunk. The blood-alcohol levels in the victims ranged from 0.010 percent to 0.310 percent. The legal limit is .10 percent. In the 34 fatalities that occurred in Vilas and Oneida counties, 23, or 68 percent, were legally drunk and speed was a factor in 31 of the deaths. Thirteen of the 20 females killed had alcohol in their blood, ranging from 0.051 percent to 0.207 percent. Nine, ranging in age from 14 to 39, were legally drunk. DAY: The deadliest day to be a snowmobiler was Saturday, when 71 were killed, or 35 percent of the fatalities. During the weekdays Monday through Thursday, 42 riders, or 21 percent, were killed. TIME: The deadliest hour of the day was between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., when 34 snowmobilers died, or 17 percent. The six hours between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. claimed 102 fatalities, more than half of those killed. During normal wintertime daylight hours -- roughly 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. -- only 54 fatalities were recorded, or 27 percent. LOCATION: More than half of the fatalities occurred on lakes or rivers and public trails. INJURIES: Half of the fatalities suffered head injuries, even though 78 percent of all victims wore helmets. TRAINING: Only 16 percent of the victims were known to have taken a state snowmobile safety training class. REGISTRATIONS: Investigators determined 32 snowmobiles involved in fatalities were not legally registered with the state. OWNERSHIP: There were 73 victims, or 37 percent, who died on snowmobiles they did not own. POWER: The DNR determined the ``CC displacement,'' one measure of the power of a snowmobile, in 137 fatal accidents. The reports show 112 snowmobiles, or 82 percent, were rated between 400cc and 900cc, including 26 between 600cc and 900cc. A 400cc machine is capable of top speeds of 65 mph, while a 900cc machine easily can go more than 100 mph. SPEEDS: Of the 138 cases in which DNR investigators determined speeds involved in a fatal accident, 102 snowmobiles, or 74 percent, were revved up to at least 40 mph, including 35 going between 60 mph and 95 mph. The victim in one of three accidents in which the speed was put at 95 mph had a blood-alcohol level 0.260 -- nearly three times the legal limit to drive. Twenty-five victims were traveling between 5 mph and 30 mph; seven drowned and three struck cables. MANUFACTURERS: Sixty-nine victims rode snowmobiles manufactured by Polaris, 50 by Yamaha, 34 by Arctic Cat and 22 by Skidoo. YEAR: Twenty-nine victims legally drunk were riding snowmobiles manufactured within a year of the rider's death. Nine drunken victims were on machines just 2 years old. |
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) -- Nearly half of the 200 people killed on snowmobiles in Wisconsin over the last decade were legally drunk, and all but one-third had some alcohol in their blood, an Associated Press review found.
The victims were young, mostly men not yet 30, who crashed in the dark of night, mostly against trees in northern counties while riding snowmobiles as fast as 90 mph on trails and lakes with no speed limits and few traffic cops.
Nine of the drunken snowmobilers killed were too young to legally drink, including two teens on a night of what's common to the sport -- tavern-hopping, a way to be sociable and warm up.
Near where 45-year-old William Miraglia died, officers found a nearly empty 200-milliliter bottle of Windsor Canadian whiskey.
The laborer from rural Hayward drove his snowmobile through a stop sign, into a snowbank, through a picket fence and into a tree in January 1993.
He and his passenger, 30-year-old Kevin Lindsay, had been drinking at Drifters Corral until the bar closed at 2 a.m. They were the last to leave, a bartender told investigators.
An autopsy showed Miraglia's blood-alcohol level was .310 percent, triple the legal limit of .10 percent, making him nearly comatose. A 140-pound man has to have eight drinks in one hour just to reach the falling-down drunk level of 0.20 percent.
The investigating officer said Miraglia was driving at a ``high rate of speed.'' Lindsay's blood-alcohol level was .187 percent.
Snowmobiling and drinking go hand in hand, almost by design. The more than 16,000 miles of trails first established in Wisconsin more than 20 years ago were created to link bars, restaurants, gas stations, motels and even small towns. For example, a snowmobiler in Wausau can travel trails north all the way to Hurley -- a 120-mile trip by car.
Snowmobile clubs and taverns still routinely sponsor what are called poker runs -- a game of driving from one tavern to the next, picking up playing cards. The best poker hand wins a prize.
Some of the games last a weekend, some a week, some all season. The object is to get people to spend money at the taverns.
It is against the law to operate a snowmobile drunk in Wisconsin, but there is little enforcement.
Snowmobiling drunk is even more deadly when combined with speed. The trails have no speed limits and many snowmobiles can reach speeds up to 100 mph.
``They think they are Tarzan,'' said snowmobiler Dan Stritzel, 28, of Whitewater, during a recent trip to snow-laden Hurley in northern Wisconsin. ``We have a friend who is a vegetable because of snowmobiling and drinking. He wasn't wearing a helmet. As soon as you throw your leg over the snowmobile (to climb on), you are endangering yourself.''
Stritzel's riding companion, Artie Foelker, 29, of Fort Atkinson, said it's no secret snowmobilers often drink. ``Some guys can hardly walk when they get on there.''
The AP's computer-assisted study of fatal accident reports filed with the state Department of Natural Resources by investigating wardens, law enforcement officers and county coroners shows some clear trends:
Like Miraglia, most people with a blood-alcohol level above 0.25 percent are ``close to a comatose situation,'' according to Gregg Miller, coordinator of a University of Wisconsin program that trains law enforcement and other professionals who work with drunken driving programs.
The AP review found 10 fatalities in that range.
``We have had them as high as 0.51 and they survived,'' said Gary Homuth, a snowmobile safety specialist for the DNR.
``If a snowmobiler would travel at reasonable speeds and have less to drink, we would save 75 percent of mishaps. We would,'' he said.
Better enforcement would also help, but the DNR can't do it without more money, he said. The state's 130 DNR wardens spend a total 10,000 hours each season on patrols related to snowmobiles, which means each warden spends about three days a winter on snowmobile patrol.
The agency would like to see that increase to at least eight, Homuth said.
During the five winters of 1990-91 through 1994-95, the DNR issued 969 citations to snowmobilers operating under the influence of alcohol, an average of 200 a season, he said.
Jim Saari, chairman of the Wisconsin Recreational Snowmobile Council, an advisory group, said perhaps 40 percent of the snowmobilers out for weekend fun drink some alcohol. But habits are changing, he said.
``They don't spend three to four hours in the bar and have a dozen beers.''
Many people want to portray drinking and driving as an issue that is overpowering the snowmobile industry. ``That's not true,'' Saari said.
There are 190,000 snowmobiles registered in Wisconsin plus thousands more from Illinois and Michigan that ``come to play in Wisconsin,'' he said. Most travel at least 1,000 miles a season.
``The number of miles driven versus the number of fatalities throws an entirely different light on the subject,'' he said. ``We are not taking lightly the fact that people get killed on a snowmobile. But anybody that thinks we are not going to have some people killed is just kidding themselves.''
Jeffrey Jorgensen, 18, and his passenger, 19-year-old Vicki Lynn Morris, drowned Feb. 9, 1992, after their machine sank in open water on Lake Nokomis. The blood-alcohol level for the Tomahawk teens was two times the legal limit to drive.
The pair had been tavern-hopping that night, having stopped at at least three different bars, and were illegally served, said Dave Jorgensen, Jeffrey's father, who owns a snowmobile dealership in Tomahawk.
Jorgensen, 47, who bought his first snowmobile in 1969, said the trails may be linked to taverns but highways are, too. That's not the problem, he said. People need to be responsible.
It took almost two years after the death of his son before Jorgensen could actively ride again.
``We drink less when I go any place driving the snowmobile,'' the snowmobile dealer said. ``I have slowed down tremendously, but I am getting older too. I used to go out and run a sled 100 mph and think nothing of it. Now, if I go maybe 75 or 80 on a good trail I am aware of during daylight hours, I am just up there and back. That's enough.''