City enforces snowmobile rules
Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 07/01) - Yellowknife municipal enforcement officers conducted spot checks of snowmobilers at the Frame Lake Tunnel last weekend.
Approximately 65 snowmobiles were stopped according to Doug Gillard, Manager of Yellowknife Municipal Enforcement. Riders were checked for up-to-date registration and insurance.
Municipal Enforcement regularly conducts random spot checks of snowmobilers, selecting different areas and times to make sure snowmobilers don't know where the next spot check will be.
"Most people are pretty good about it," said Gillard. "They recognize that there have to be regulations if we're going to allow snowmobiles to be operated in the city limits."
After an uneventful Saturday in which no charges were laid, five charges were laid on Sunday for infractions ranging from no registration to speeding.
A 15-year-old driver was charged twice with speeding as well as being an unsupervised driver.
"He was doing 94 kilometres an hour in a 30 km/h zone," said Gillard.
The spot checks come on the heels of a number of snowmobile incidents in Yellowknife and around the NWT this winter.
In Yellowknife, A 19-year-old female was injured in a hit and run on Frame Lake last month. On Dec. 2, a woman died after her snowmobile went through the ice on Prosperous Lake and her riding partner was injured when he crashed into a rock.
Snowmobiles were blamed for driving on ski trails used by the Yellowknife Cross-Country Ski Club Jan. 20.
