Here we go again.
When in the name of Christ are people going to friggin’ WISE UP AND REALIZE THAT IF WE HAVEN’T HAD MONTHS OF SNOW OR FREEZING WEATHER, WE DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH ICE ON OUR PONDS TO SUPPORT A SNOWMOBILE OR AN ATV????
Seriously. I want to take this most recent dead person and shake the hell out of him. That stupid bastard (God rest his soul and all of that) has devastated a family, because he figured after 5 minutes of winter-like weather, it was ok to take an ATV out on water that was only caught over with ice.
And, it’s not like this doesn’t happen a lot. It happens almost weekly, year in, year out, year in, year out, and on, and on, and on.
If it’s not kids being killed on ATVs in the summer, it’s people being killed by snowmobiles on thin ice in the winter. This latest incident has the unique distinction of having the flavor of both – an ATV going through ice. Both seasons adequately represented.
Last week, it was a helmetless child on a banned 3-wheeled ATV who was seriously injured.
What does it take? WHAT???
It's not even like these things are in any way necessary modes of transportation. They are toys, nothing more. Big, expensive, fast toys. Cars, motorcycles, even Vespas, are primarily used for transportation. They get people to work, to school, for groceries... But ATVs and snowmobiles? Not one single morning of my life have I woken up feeling deprived because I didn't have one, nor did I ever feel the need to borrow one from a neighbor to get me somewhere. They are toys, and they are killing people.
No one would consider handing an 8 year old the keys to the Jeep Cherokee, but no one seems to see anything wrong with giving a kid keys to the ATV or snowmobile. I just don't get it.
These senseless deaths have been in the media ad nauseum. Almost every Newfoundlander knows someone who has been either directly or indirectly affected. It happens so often that this does not make for a surprising fact.
It's not even like these things are in any way necessary modes of transportation. They are toys, nothing more. Big, expensive, fast toys. Cars, motorcycles, even Vespas, are primarily used for transportation. They get people to work, to school, for groceries... But ATVs and snowmobiles? Not one single morning of my life have I woken up feeling deprived because I didn't have one, nor did I ever feel the need to borrow one from a neighbor to get me somewhere. They are toys, and they are killing people.
No one would consider handing an 8 year old the keys to the Jeep Cherokee, but no one seems to see anything wrong with giving a kid keys to the ATV or snowmobile. I just don't get it.
These senseless deaths have been in the media ad nauseum. Almost every Newfoundlander knows someone who has been either directly or indirectly affected. It happens so often that this does not make for a surprising fact.
We regale ourselves with stories of winters when we were children, how the snow reached the telephone wires and so forth. I remember my mother saying people could walk on the harbour when she was young.
But winters now are not like winters then. It was warmer in St. John’s than it was in Havana , Cuba
My heart breaks for the families left behind by these thoughtless, senseless people who think they know more than Mother Nature about the whims of ice formation on the ponds near where they grew up.
I am really starting to consider these incidents as suicides, not accidents. Anyone with an IQ in the double-digits knows the dangers, and knows it happens all the bloody time. Yet still, they will go on thin ice with a snowmobile, or let their children drive ATVs, with passengers and with no helmets on to boot. No more calling it an ‘accident’ in my world. If I'm told that jabbing a knife in my chest will kill me, yet I insist on jabbing a knife in my chest, can that really be called 'an accident'? I think not.
I've asked owners of these toys in the past why they go out on ice at all? Of course, it's the quickest way to get wherever they're going; someone's cabin for beer, into the woods to hunt, those essential activities of life. When I asked, "Why not just drive around the pond", well, that couldn't happen! It's not flat and smooth, and they can't 'open 'er up' in the woods like they can on the ice. Well, they 'open 'er up' all right. The hole in the ice is what they 'open up', not the speed that they were intending.
I've asked owners of these toys in the past why they go out on ice at all? Of course, it's the quickest way to get wherever they're going; someone's cabin for beer, into the woods to hunt, those essential activities of life. When I asked, "Why not just drive around the pond", well, that couldn't happen! It's not flat and smooth, and they can't 'open 'er up' in the woods like they can on the ice. Well, they 'open 'er up' all right. The hole in the ice is what they 'open up', not the speed that they were intending.
My face is blood red, and my hands are shaking as I type this. This was one of my most frequent and passionate rants when I worked offshore Newfoundland, with people who blamed these accidents on everything but the willful ignorance and arrogance of those who think it’ll happen to anyone but them, because they are so-o-o-o safe!!! Yup. Aren’t they all?!?!
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid way to die.
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