Snowmobile Accident Claims Two People on Scugog

[JustinHoffman]

I feel sorry for the families of these guys. Man, what a terrible waste - and two lives gone in order to get a readout of how quick your machine can go!

My condolences go out...

Justin

 

 

 

Snowmobile accident kills Durham officer

 

 

Mar 10, 2007 12:04 PM

Canadian Press

LAKE SCUGOG, Ont. — Two men have died in an unusual snowmobile accident on Lake Scugog.

 

Greg Hearn, 41, and David White, 44, both of Little Britain (map), drove on separate snowmobiles to the lake, just south of Kawartha Lakes, in order to test the speed of one their machines last night.

 

One man stood on the ice measuring the speed of the vehicle with a radar device while the other man drove around the lake at high speed — unfortunately, the driver collided with his partner just before 9 p.m.

 

Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

 

White was driving the vehicle at the time of the collision.

 

Hearn, who was measuring the speed, was an off-duty member of Durham police.

 

Police continue to investigate.

 

In an unrelated incident, a 31-year-old man died after being thrown from his snowmobile while trying to avoid a snow groomer in Elderslie Township, in Bruce County (map).

 

Shawn Hayward of Brights Grove, Ont., was driving over a hill last anoanight when he saw a trail-grooming machine headed straight for him.

 

When he tried to weave out of the way, he was thrown from his vehicle.

 

Hayward was pronounced dead in hospital.

Edited March 10, 2007 by JustinHoffman

[Garyv]

In an unrelated incident, a 31-year-old man died after being thrown from his snowmobile while trying to avoid a snow groomer in Elderslie Township, in Bruce County (map).

 

Shawn Hayward of Brights Grove, Ont., was driving over a hill last night when he saw a trail-grooming machine headed straight for him.

 

When he tried to weave out of the way, he was thrown from his vehicle.

 

Hayward was pronounced dead in hospital.

 

Mr. Hayward was the husband of the woman who used to day care two of my grandkids. She is a very nice person and they have two kids of their own one about 2 and the other around 4 months. I have known her family for years. Mr Hayward also had another child by a previous marriage. They has recently purchased a home in Brights grove and had nothing but the future to look forward to. Deaths like this are tragic and when you know the people involved really make you stop and thing how fragile life can be.

Edited March 10, 2007 by Garyv

[fishindevil]

that must have been a horrible accident ,and it was at night,why were they doing radar runs at night....THAT IS VERY STUPID,AND THATS WHEN PEOPLE DIE,A POLICE OFFICER SHOULD KNOW BETTER ,well thats to bad ,and i cant get over why people do these things at night,do ya think booze was involved,...what a waste

[Northhunter]

A guy totalled his machine in front of our house last weekend. They make those things too damn fast these days (IMO). I read an article about a new model that has a 4-stroke engine that pushes it at 140mph. That was a "stock, as it came from the factory" high performance machine that anybody with the coin could buy.

 

I worked with an older guy that said way back when they used to ride them out to lodges and what not, throw back a few, then ride back. They had a lot of fun, but the machines were slow. Very slow compared to the new ones. You could get hurt, obviously, but even if you went off the trail and nailed a tree the chances of you walking away were pretty high. They quit doing it when the "fast" 300cc+ machines became more common.

[lookinforwalleye]

My sympathys to the family they leave behind but man how stupid is that, what is it with the male of the specie seems we are always trying to go faster and dream up new ways of killing ourselves.

[Dutch]

They don't make the machines too fast, just drivers with a lack of common sense.

 

I wonder where they got that radar gun, that's right - off duty policeman.

 

Condolences to the families.

[fishindevil]

yes i just seen it on the 6 ocklock news and he was doing over 200kph....when the accident happened.....they said it looked like a horror movie on the ice....he would have been like a bug hitting the windsheild of your car....its too bad for the family ....it was VERY STUPID......THATS WHAT HAPPENS....AND HE WAQS A COP HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.....

[cityfisher]

While i believe its up to the driver to drive SAFE and CAUTIOUS the sleds these days are really crazy fast.. drove my buddys new 4 stroke yami 700 all day today and he calls it slow compared to his dads beefed up 750 or 800 yami...i was happy driving it at 50 -60 km on the ice...let them blow by me i wanna come home for dinner in one piece !!!

 

My deepest sympothy to the familys

[lunkerbasshunter]

my condelences to the familes.

 

do you really need to be going 200km per hour on any vehicle?

[Fisherman]

No, at that speed, distance covered vs reaction time of the driver does not equate to have enough distance to execute a change of direction, therefore a crash is inevitable.

[Rizzo]

very sad for the families of these people. When you look at it, its almost too ridiculous to believe its true. How close do you have to be to get a good reading on the radar? I would think a lake offers a lot of room to space out. Keep your dang distance...or better yet don't tempt fate. Hopefully others out there learn from this, but of course we know they won't. If we learned from past examples, we wouldn't be discussing this now.