RCMP say alcohol was likely a factor in the death of a 39-year-old man who drove a snowmobile into the gate of an abandoned gold mine in northern Saskatchewan on the weekend.
Donald "Dino" Bird, 39, was on his way home with friends after a fishing trip to Sulphide Lake when the incident happened on the Anglo-Rouyen mine trail near Stanley Mission, 500 kilometres north of Saskatoon, on Saturday evening.
The group of five men was travelling down a trail leading to an abandoned gold mine when Bird sped up and drove through a chained gate blocking the entrance, police say.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bird, a plumber-in-training from La Ronge with three sons, is Saskatchewan’s first snowmobile death of 2011. He was remembered by family Tuesday as a hard worker and an avid ice fisherman and snowmobiler.
"There is absolutely no bad memories of him that I could even think," said his sister, Connie Bird, 37. "He’d make everybody around him happy."
The family is questioning the visibility of the chain gate that Bird struck, saying it should have had reflectors to warn snowmobilers.
"There was no warning signs of the danger," Connie said.
She added she doesn’t believe the RCMP account that alcohol was a factor in her brother’s death.
"He would never drink and drive," she said.
The Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association on Tuesday repeated its warning on drinking and riding.
Research done on snowmobile deaths in Saskatchewan shows the incidence of alcohol use by snowmobilers who are killed is far higher than motor vehicle drivers who die in accidents.
Bird’s is the 69th death since accurate statistics started being kept by Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) in 1995.
There have been more than 2,000 collisions involving snowmobiles since that time.
A high number of those collisions are alcohol or speed-related, said Chris Brewer, president of the snowmobile association.
"We know rural Saskatchewan is still a bad area for alcohol and driving (motor vehicles) and those are the same people that are snowmobiling," said Brewer.
"It’s simple. Don’t drink and ride."
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