Snowmobiling

Is snowmobiling safe?

Less safe than most winter sports. In Québec, where a large study matched every sport and recreation death in 2006–2019 with survey data on who takes part, snowmobiling had the highest death rate of 24 activities: 2.51 deaths per 100,000 participants a year. That was higher than quad bikes (1.69) and about five times cycling (0.48).

Per day of riding the figure is harder to pin down, because nobody counts riding days and deaths in the same place. Using the Québec rate and about 12 riding days a year from a Minnesota survey gives about 2 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per day. Older New England rates per registered sled, spread over about 8 riding days per registered sled (Minnesota households rode 21 days a winter with 2.5 registered sleds), give 10 to 20. We use roughly 2 to 15, which puts a day on a sled at several times a day of resort skiing.

Those New England rates show how much a bad winter can swing the numbers. In the 2002–2003 season, Maine recorded 1.7 deaths per 10,000 registered snowmobiles and New Hampshire 1.2, with 28 deaths across the two states and Vermont, the most in 12 seasons. Maine had averaged 5.4 deaths a winter in 1991–1995 before 12 died in 1995–96, the most in 25 years. The CDC found excessive speed in 64% of the 2002–2003 deaths.

Who dies and why

The pattern is consistent across Canada, the US and Scandinavia:

• Men. 89% of Canadian deaths in 2013–2019, and 92% in northern Sweden in 1973–1998.
• Alcohol. In Canada alcohol or drugs were reported in 55% of deaths from hitting objects, ejections or rollovers, 51% of drownings and 44% of collisions with other vehicles. In northern Sweden 64% of those killed were drunk.
• Speed and darkness. Excessive speed featured in 48% of the Canadian crash, ejection and rollover deaths, and darkness or dusk in 46%. In Sweden 63% of deaths happened in the dark, most between 6 pm and 2 am.
• Solo riders. Three in four deaths in Canada involved a driver riding alone.

Most crashes involve one sled. In Canada, 80% of deaths were single-vehicle events, and 7 in 10 of those were collisions with trees or other fixed objects, ejections or rollovers. The 20% that involved another vehicle were mostly collisions with a car or truck, often where a trail crosses a public road.

Ice and water

Breaking through ice is the death that catches experienced local riders. In Canada, 14% of single-vehicle deaths were submersions. In northern Sweden, where lakes and rivers form part of the trail network, drowning caused 38% of deaths and driving into water was the most common single event. A heavy machine sinks fast, and cold water and wet winter clothing make self-rescue hard within minutes.

Avalanches are a separate risk for mountain riders. They caused 10% of Canadian single-vehicle deaths, where powerful sleds climb quickly into steep avalanche terrain.

Injuries

For every death there are many injuries. A health system in rural Wisconsin treated 1,013 snowmobile injuries in five seasons, an average of 313 a year per 100,000 registered snowmobiles, and admitted 26% of them. Admitted patients often had fractures, organ injuries and trauma to several parts of the body, and many needed surgery or intensive care. Head trauma was recorded in about half of Québec's snowmobile deaths.

How to ride more safely

1. Do not drink and ride. It is the single biggest factor in deaths, and the effect is worse in cold and darkness.
2. Slow down after dark. Most Swedish deaths happened in darkness, and at trail speed a tree or a bend appears in the headlight too late to stop.
3. Stay off ice unless you know it is safe today. If you must cross, wear a flotation suit and carry ice picks around your neck.
4. Stop fully at road crossings. Collisions with cars and trucks cause most multi-vehicle deaths.
5. Ride with others and carry a phone or satellite messenger. A solo rider who crashes in the forest can wait hours.
6. Wear a helmet and take a safety course. The CDC linked most New England deaths to speed, careless riding and inexperience.
7. In the mountains, carry avalanche gear and read the forecast, the same as a backcountry skier.

How we scored it

Fatality risk (64) rests on roughly 2 to 15 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per riding day, our estimate from the Québec participant rate and older US rates per registered sled, so confidence is low. Injury risk (55) reflects frequent high-energy crashes. Controllability (62) gets credit because alcohol, speed, darkness and ice feature in so many deaths, and remote, icy terrain keeps the environment score at 50. Compare quad biking, its closest relative.