Whitehorse rejects proposed snowmobile street ban

Whitehorse won't be banning snowmobiles from city streets.

A proposed snowmobile bylaw called for the ban, but council members saythat would be unreasonable.

They decided Monday night thatsnowmobile users shouldbe ableto drive their machines from their homes to the backcountry. However, they added it may be necessary to ban snowmobilesfrom some specific streets.

The council will move ahead with other proposalsrelated to snowmobile use.Themachines will berestrictedto designated trails with substantial penalties for violators andspeed limits will be set. Drivers will also have to take a snowmobile safety course.

Both bylaw manager Dave Pruden and Mayor Bev Buckway last monthconceded the street ban proposal was controversial.

Pruden said it would be difficult to enforce the new rules, since too many Yukoners already ignore existing territorial rules regarding snowmobile licensing, registration, and insurance.

Counc. Betty Irwin said she, too, thought such a bylaw woulddrawopposition frompeoplewho would havetofurnish a trailer in order to get theirmachines to the trails fromhome.

Operating snowmobiles on city streets has been legal under current regulations, first passed in 1972.