There are more than 1.1 million snowmobiles registered in the US alone.
On top of that, the snowmobiling industry is a $26 billion a year business in the United States. Your average snowmobiler spends anywhere between $2000 and $3000 on this hobby a year, too – with your average snowmobiler putting 1100 miles on their equipment every winter.
To say that Americans love to snowmobile would be a serious understatement.
At the same time, though, snowmobiling is considered by many in the US and Canada to be the most dangerous of all the winter sports.
How dangerous is snowmobiling exactly?
According to the Canadian Institute for Health snowmobiles were responsible for 16% of all severe recreational injuries in 2019 alone. The American CDC reports that there are about 9.7 deaths per 100,000 snowmobiles in use every winter, too.
These injury and death rates would make snowmobiles almost as dangerous as motorcycles, with similar injury and fatality rates even though these vehicles are only driven during the winter months while motorcycles are road year-round in some places.
Below we dig a little deeper into just how dangerous is snowmobiling, what you can do to prevent accidents and injuries, and whether or not you should feel comfortable and confident every time you climb on top of your own snowmobile.
Let’s jump right in!
Snowmobiles more dangerous than motorcycles?
To get a real handle on figuring out just how dangerous is snowmobiling anyway it’s important to go over a couple of important bits of information.
As we highlighted a moment ago, snowmobiling injury and fatality rates are pretty close to motorcycle injury and fatality rates (at least in the United States, anyway).
While you see about 9.7 deaths per 100,000 snowmobiles on trails and paths each winter, you see about 22.4 deaths per 100,000 motorcycles on the roads of the United States. That means snowmobiles are about half as dangerous as motorcycles if all things were equal.
What’s most interesting, though, is that when you start to look at deaths per mile on snowmobiles and motorcycles you see just how similar in danger running these vehicles really are.
Motorcycles have (on average) a single death for every 13.4 million miles motorcycles are road in the US each year. Snowmobiles, on the other hand, have a single death for every 12.8 million miles ridden each winter – making it slightly more dangerous to ride a snowmobile than a motorcycle.
Alcohol and snowmobiles
But that’s not the only similarities that snowmobiles have with motorcycles when it comes to danger.
Alcohol is one of the biggest contributing factors to injuries and fatalities on both of these kinds of vehicles.
46% of motorcycle related deaths and injuries were found to be blind to alcohol, with 57% of snowmobile deaths and injuries liked to beer and liquor, too. It’s never a good idea to mix alcohol and any motor vehicle. But it’s especially dangerous to mix a couple of beers or a shot or two before you head out on the trails with your snowmobile.
Interestingly enough, a snowmobile helmet doesn’t seem to be quite as useful in protecting you from fatal injuries as a motorcycle helmet is. 87% of snowmobile fatalities had a snowmobiler wearing a helmet that was supposed to protect them compared to just 24% of motorcycle fatalities where the writer was wearing a helmet, too.
At the end of the day, it’s critical to understand that snowmobiling is one of the most dangerous winter sports/hobbies there are.
If you’ve ever wondered “how dangerous is snowmobiling, anyway” it’s important to recognize that it can be very dangerous – that there are things you can do to mitigate those risks quite a bit.
How to Stay Safe While Snowmobiling
Right out of the gate, it’s never a bad idea to take a snowmobile safety course before you buy your first machine and take off on some trails.
Many of these safety courses are 100% free of charge, will provide you with information you won’t get anywhere as outside of raw experience, and can help you navigate some of the common sticky situations snowmobilers find themselves in all the time.
Secondly, you’ll want to make sure that the snowmobile you are riding is impeccably maintained and in perfect working order.
You won’t be able to avoid every mechanical failure (accidents do happen) but you want to do a “preflight checklist” on your snowmobile to make sure that it’s in the best possible condition for the kind of trail riding you are expecting.
Third, even though we just highlight the fact that snowmobile helmets may not be quite as helpful in an accident as you’d expect, it’s still important to wear safety gear and equipment.
Invest in some high-quality options that protect your head, chest, and body, keep you warm, and are comfortable to wear for long stretches of time. Try to get your hands on the best safety gear you can afford rather than cutting corners to cut costs.
Finally, it’s never a bad idea to make sure that you only ever go out on your snowmobile when you have a couple of other people riding with you.
Solo snowmobilers are the ones that usually find themselves in the most trouble. The last thing you want to have to deal with is an emergency situation where you are all on your lonesome miles and miles away from anyone else – stuck on a trail only accessible by snowmobile like the one that got you there!
Have a buddy system, check in with your fellow trail riders whenever possible, and make sure that if you do go out on solo adventures people know where you are and when to expect you back. This way they’ll be able to send help if something goes wrong.
At the end of the day, as long as you recognize the risks you run when going snowmobiling and do everything you can to mitigate them with the tips highlighted above you should be good to go.