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2 hours ago, Claire Voyant said:

This is an interesting thread. I tend to agree with many points made. 

 

I was at the OFSC AGM where a Lester spoke at length about "freeriders" which totally baffled me. Was I mistaken in my belief that we were a Federation of clubs committed to grooming trails? 

 

And now here we are, a few years later with many many trespassing complaints. And we also have individuals promoting riding in their area while ALL trails for miles are indicating "Unavailable" on the ITG. 

 

The OFSC needs to make up its mind as to whether it's a provincial organization of clubs committed to providing safe, consistent trails (weather permitting, of course!), or whether it's just about snowmobiling, anyway, anywhere, any place. I think we're losing our focus. 

Well said!  I was at that AGM as well, and the suggestion that the clubs embrace and try to find area for these 'freeriders' boggled my mind.  Do we not have enough problems with building, maintaining and policing our trail network?  Now they want us to find landowners and areas for freeriders?  And take on those liabilities?

 

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28 minutes ago, sledjunk said:

Well said!  I was at that AGM as well, and the suggestion that the clubs embrace and try to find area for these 'freeriders' boggled my mind.  Do we not have enough problems with building, maintaining and policing our trail network?  Now they want us to find landowners and areas for freeriders?  And take on those liabilities?

 

No kidding! We're getting sued as it is by riders who decide to ride OFF the groomed portion of trails. It's all fun and games along the powerlines until you hit a guy-wire. 

 

Now we have "entrepreneurs" who want to piggyback off our work and "guide" the freeriders around.

 

 

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19 hours ago, zoso said:

Police on trails is needed, that we cannot deny. BUT, we need proper enforcement. Proper enforcement is NOT cherry picking railbeds are flying in helicopters. Proper enforcement is hard work. It means standing in the bush off to the side with no sled present on blind corners and hills observing those that blow the corner, or crest a hill left of center. This is the real danger, and the one we all fear happening when we approach these areas. riding 100kmh on a 30 foot wide trail that is straight and flat is not a danger to anyone. As a matter of fact that is not even fast on today's machines. If cops really gave a damn about our safety this is what we would be seeing out there. I am just happy I can ride weekdays when the cops are not bothering to be out at all, and this is likely why I have not had a fine on my sled in the last 100,000 kms.

X2

 

I do believe that we need proper enforcement and i do mean proper enforcement not cherry picking on straight stretches etc! and the helicopter at $2400 an hour to catch speeders etc is a far stretch and believe this was a mere scare tactic by the opp as i dont see them wasting that resource on sled trails much. I do believe the speed can be increased to at least 70km/hrs where deemed appropriate(rail trails, straight stretches etc) Quebec has already done so and set the precedent so the insurance bs excuse should be squashed quickly. 

 

Since the opp disbanded the STOP program deaths are up, trespassing and trails closed from it are up, freeloaders running without permits are up and some trails closed due to loud exhaust are up! The police do not have the resources to police the entire province on most trails everyday and we are now left without presence on most of the trail network. STOP was disbanded apparently due to safety concerns as volunteers shouldnt be doing police type duties but they did not have any supporting data for that claim and if that is so then why not get rid of their auxiliary unit which are just volunteers and unlike stop officers they are not special constables! the real reason was due to their opp save team whining about their jobs as they would have to go back to regular duties. What a shame to get rid of an over 20 year valuable program due to political BS! as well threaten peoples safety and trail retention from it. As well the opp has no plans to back nor give our trail patrol with further enforcement powers and the ofsc is just letting them do it.

 

The last bog meeting they are now wanting to get rid of all enforcement capabilities from our trail patrol and present this to the agm leaving trail patrol to mere Walmart greeters, how sad and pathetic this is and a slap in the face to all club volunteers, patrollers, landowners and our permit buyers! Also trail patrol is being overlooked by the rider experience committee to revitalize it and has come back with those recommendations, which was another point i brought up to ofsc is why is a committee of non trail patrollers nor experienced in it overlooking our program and as such should be instead a committee of active trail patrollers from the province overlooking our own program to make it more fun, and effective, as well since the ofsc is looking at the way Quebec is doing things that they look at how well supported their trail patrol is and the powers they have and bring that back here to the legislature so they can make the appropriate changes to the msva and bill 100 etc. 

 

So in this i am also reaching out to any other trail patrollers on here that want to see the ofsc give us the ability to overlook our own program as well to make them look at the Quebec model of trail patrol so they can present to our legislature so they can make the changes and make your voice heard to the ofsc as more voices that tell them the more they will finally LISTEN to us cause I cant do this alone, remember squeaky wheel gets the grease! I know i intend to bring this up at the agm!  Please pm me for more info if interested.  

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2 hours ago, SuperG said:

X2

 

I do believe that we need proper enforcement and i do mean proper enforcement not cherry picking on straight stretches etc! and the helicopter at $2400 an hour to catch speeders etc is a far stretch and believe this was a mere scare tactic by the opp as i dont see them wasting that resource on sled trails much. I do believe the speed can be increased to at least 70km/hrs where deemed appropriate(rail trails, straight stretches etc) Quebec has already done so and set the precedent so the insurance bs excuse should be squashed quickly. 

 

Since the opp disbanded the STOP program deaths are up, trespassing and trails closed from it are up, freeloaders running without permits are up and some trails closed due to loud exhaust are up! The police do not have the resources to police the entire province on most trails everyday and we are now left without presence on most of the trail network. STOP was disbanded apparently due to safety concerns as volunteers shouldnt be doing police type duties but they did not have any supporting data for that claim and if that is so then why not get rid of their auxiliary unit which are just volunteers and unlike stop officers they are not special constables! the real reason was due to their opp save team whining about their jobs as they would have to go back to regular duties. What a shame to get rid of an over 20 year valuable program due to political BS! as well threaten peoples safety and trail retention from it. As well the opp has no plans to back nor give our trail patrol with further enforcement powers and the ofsc is just letting them do it.

 

The last bog meeting they are now wanting to get rid of all enforcement capabilities from our trail patrol and present this to the agm leaving trail patrol to mere Walmart greeters, how sad and pathetic this is and a slap in the face to all club volunteers, patrollers, landowners and our permit buyers! Also trail patrol is being overlooked by the rider experience committee to revitalize it and has come back with those recommendations, which was another point i brought up to ofsc is why is a committee of non trail patrollers nor experienced in it overlooking our program and as such should be instead a committee of active trail patrollers from the province overlooking our own program to make it more fun, and effective, as well since the ofsc is looking at the way Quebec is doing things that they look at how well supported their trail patrol is and the powers they have and bring that back here to the legislature so they can make the appropriate changes to the msva and bill 100 etc. 

 

So in this i am also reaching out to any other trail patrollers on here that want to see the ofsc give us the ability to overlook our own program as well to make them look at the Quebec model of trail patrol so they can present to our legislature so they can make the changes and make your voice heard to the ofsc as more voices that tell them the more they will finally LISTEN to us cause I cant do this alone, remember squeaky wheel gets the grease! I know i intend to bring this up at the agm!  Please pm me for more info if interested.  

Went for a ride today. As a crossed as seeded field signed as such I had a thought. Obviously a farmer gets pretty upset when sleds run off the stake line and ruin his future crop. This shuts that trail down. Why are the cops not sitting at the other end of these fields nailing the idiots with a criminal charge of mischief , and getting restitution in court instead of the club writing a cheque and begging for the trail to stay open? This charge would be easy to prosecute, signage is there, and the police witness the crime. After all it is a crime, no less than me hitting a car with a bat. The police are IMO not doing the job they should. The entire reason we got in bed with the government in the first place was to allow enforcement on private property,  not so we could see people fined on railbed.

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3 hours ago, SuperG said:

X2

 

I do believe that we need proper enforcement and i do mean proper enforcement not cherry picking on straight stretches etc! and the helicopter at $2400 an hour to catch speeders etc is a far stretch and believe this was a mere scare tactic by the opp as i dont see them wasting that resource on sled trails much. I do believe the speed can be increased to at least 70km/hrs where deemed appropriate(rail trails, straight stretches etc) Quebec has already done so and set the precedent so the insurance bs excuse should be squashed quickly. 

 

Since the opp disbanded the STOP program deaths are up, trespassing and trails closed from it are up, freeloaders running without permits are up and some trails closed due to loud exhaust are up! The police do not have the resources to police the entire province on most trails everyday and we are now left without presence on most of the trail network. STOP was disbanded apparently due to safety concerns as volunteers shouldnt be doing police type duties but they did not have any supporting data for that claim and if that is so then why not get rid of their auxiliary unit which are just volunteers and unlike stop officers they are not special constables! the real reason was due to their opp save team whining about their jobs as they would have to go back to regular duties. What a shame to get rid of an over 20 year valuable program due to political BS! as well threaten peoples safety and trail retention from it. As well the opp has no plans to back nor give our trail patrol with further enforcement powers and the ofsc is just letting them do it.

 

The last bog meeting they are now wanting to get rid of all enforcement capabilities from our trail patrol and present this to the agm leaving trail patrol to mere Walmart greeters, how sad and pathetic this is and a slap in the face to all club volunteers, patrollers, landowners and our permit buyers! Also trail patrol is being overlooked by the rider experience committee to revitalize it and has come back with those recommendations, which was another point i brought up to ofsc is why is a committee of non trail patrollers nor experienced in it overlooking our program and as such should be instead a committee of active trail patrollers from the province overlooking our own program to make it more fun, and effective, as well since the ofsc is looking at the way Quebec is doing things that they look at how well supported their trail patrol is and the powers they have and bring that back here to the legislature so they can make the appropriate changes to the msva and bill 100 etc. 

 

So in this i am also reaching out to any other trail patrollers on here that want to see the ofsc give us the ability to overlook our own program as well to make them look at the Quebec model of trail patrol so they can present to our legislature so they can make the changes and make your voice heard to the ofsc as more voices that tell them the more they will finally LISTEN to us cause I cant do this alone, remember squeaky wheel gets the grease! I know i intend to bring this up at the agm!  Please pm me for more info if interested.  

Maybe we can start another thread about Trail Patrol?  I'm happy to share my experiences and opinions.

 

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I live in small town Ontario. When trail patrol were active it actually made some of the free loaders I grew up with stay off our trails. They reallly feared a charge. Not anymore. Not enough traffic in my locale to get the numbers that the O.P.P.  like to publish. 

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1 hour ago, zoso said:

Went for a ride today. As a crossed as seeded field signed as such I had a thought. Obviously a farmer gets pretty upset when sleds run off the stake line and ruin his future crop. This shuts that trail down. Why are the cops not sitting at the other end of these fields nailing the idiots with a criminal charge of mischief , and getting restitution in court instead of the club writing a cheque and begging for the trail to stay open? This charge would be easy to prosecute, signage is there, and the police witness the crime. After all it is a crime, no less than me hitting a car with a bat. The police are IMO not doing the job they should. The entire reason we got in bed with the government in the first place was to allow enforcement on private property,  not so we could see people fined on railbed.

The word gets out about some enforcement like that & attitudes might change.

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6 minutes ago, pt3189 said:

I live in small town Ontario. When trail patrol were active it actually made some of the free loaders I grew up with stay off our trails. They reallly feared a charge. Not anymore. Not enough traffic in my locale to get the numbers that the O.P.P.  like to publish. 

I am not trail patrol, but yesterday I stopped a kid on the trail( just stopped and waved him over)as he had no permit on the sled. I was not rude, I said this. Do you not buy a permit? He said, ya, I just did and pulled out his paperwork. awesome I said, then we talked about the trails etc. We can all speak up. I find kids are pretty cool about being asked, and they seem to respect adults for the most part.

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I was very sad to hear about the trail patrol and STOP program cancellation. And the excuse that was being said was due to safety and all their auxillary program were being shut due 'terrorism concerns.'  HA!!! Don't get me wrong, canada isn't of course immune but REALLLY????? That's a pretty far stretch, painting a wide brush and especially in snowmobiling.  As per usual though I do take with a grain of salt, because stories of course change as one person tells another, and another etc. so that may be a game of telephone mis-translation.....

 

I too have been on the trails and ran into a couple OPP on sleds (this was 3-4y ago collingwood area, pretty river PP) and like revrnd and others am happy to see that type of patrolling and enforcement.  To me that's active and proper enforcement. You're out there in the field riding and experiencing exactly as we do.  Passed them again later in another part of the same trail loop and we just did the respect wave.  All good.  Only ran into a couple crossings in my riding, and they were checking stickers, insurance, tags and straps.  Again, zero issue.  They were ticketing a couple younger guys, I believe for missing paperwork/permits, but I don't know for sure.  Again, while I prefer the on trail fully, I'm still ok with that.  But as others have said just sitting and cherry picking isn't a safety thing.  

 

 

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23 hours ago, sledjunk said:

But he has a chase truck to carry the stuff on his list.

A cube van or a 53' dry van?

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29 minutes ago, revrnd said:

A cube van or a 53' dry van?

A fully equipped highway coach if he can get somebody else to pay for it. Complete with beds for overnight stays in towns where nobody will give him a free room for the night.

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Not only does he do snowmobiling but he also has the cottager blurbs on the radio in the summer. I have yet to hear one of his radio spots that have actually been informative.

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6 minutes ago, catinental couch said:

I have been lucky. I haven't heard one of his radio blurbs.

The most recent mags have a listing if you're interested. LOL

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For the most part, they're easy enough to ignore. 

I do visit FB, and despite blocking him, and those of his ilk, I keep seeing his blather. 

Has anyone more FB savvy then me figured out how to block him effectively?

And don't knock FB. Follow the OFSC page for some hilarity. 

It's almost as good as the Liberal party account. 

 

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3 minutes ago, manotickmike said:

For the most part, they're easy enough to ignore. 

I do visit FB, and despite blocking him, and those of his ilk, I keep seeing his blather. 

Has anyone more FB savvy then me figured out how to block him effectively?

And don't knock FB. Follow the OFSC page for some hilarity. 

It's almost as good as the Liberal party account. 

 

If you see his post and it says sponsered, you can choose to no longer see ads from that source. th three dots top right of the ad, click, choose why am I seeing this,then in options you can block it.

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10 hours ago, catinental couch said:

All of a sudden I feel a bad case of blindness coming on. lol

Didn't your mother ever tell you about that?

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On 1/23/2019 at 9:44 AM, Claire Voyant said:

This is an interesting thread. I tend to agree with many points made. 

 

 

 

Agreed, best one this year.

For the record I dont mind the old dude, hes a wise old rider who came up in times when you really did need all that safety gack to make a real ride and get home safe. Back in the ride for 2 hours, fix for 20 hours days. With above, people seem to love to bitch, looks like Im guilty too.

Im trying ringo, im trying REAL hard to be the happy guy again who makes the whole club laugh all day. Tricky times, with work I believe we'll improve a lot of things in the next ten years

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8 minutes ago, crispy said:

 

Agreed, best one this year.

For the record I dont mind the old dude, hes a wise old rider who came up in times when you really did need all that safety gack to make a real ride and get home safe. Back in the ride for 2 hours, fix for 20 hours days. With above, people seem to love to bitch, looks like Im guilty too.

Im trying ringo, im trying REAL hard to be the happy guy again who makes the whole club laugh all day. Tricky times, with work I believe we'll improve a lot of things in the next ten years

 

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