The snowmobile season started in early December. Since then hardly a day has gone that I haven’t read about how many operators have been killed, or about some intelligent politician wanting “”more laws”” to regulate the operators.

To date there have been 16 killed. All could have been prevented, but only by the operators.

Let’s compare that with motor vehicles.

Since Jan.1 I have read about 47 accidents in newspapers (I missed some and didn’t count the police log from Lewiston and Auburn) with 21 killed, and 32 persons maimed, from critical down to minor injuries. That is not counting the folks that refused a medical check.

Also, the three area papers cover only about a third of the state. On the roads, the person who causes the accident is usually not hurt, but innocent people are! That rarely, if ever, happens in the woods.

We have hundreds of laws to do with motor vehicles and hundreds of officers to enforce them. Based on last year, the number killed this year will be over 125, but nobody cares about that.

If a few want to operate their equipment with a death wish then they are likely to get their wish. Let them! No laws will stop them.

All of the police in the state cannot prevent every highway death. Surely a few game wardens cannot be expected to stop deaths in the woods.

For your information, I have a snowmobile, an ATV and two motor vehicles.

Marshall Longway, Dixfield

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