The Noelville OPP confirmed to BayToday.ca that two fatalities on the Murdoch River occurred during a radar run on the ice near Alban Saturday night around 6:30 p.m. , a time when it would have been dark.
“The investigation is moving forward, we have determined that speed and visibility were contributing factors,” stated OPP Constable Andre Bisson Monday afternoon.
“We can also confirm that a speed measuring device was on site and being used to measure the speeds of snowmobiles.”
OPP say a single snowmobile, being operated by a 42-year-old man, was travelling near some ice fishing huts and hit a 29-year-old woman that was standing near one of the huts.
Both were fatally injured.
A one-year-old child was also injured and taken to the local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The sled operator James Nathan Wright, age 42, and Julie Piotrowski, age 29, and mother of three children, were both pronounced dead at the scene.
“From what we can understand through the investigation is that it was a competition, people were having their machines tested against the personal radar and from there all it adds is different components that are attributed to a complete and thorough investigation,” said Bisson.
OPP say a reconstruction of the collision has not yet been completed by the investigating team.
“We understand that people want to test out their machines and sometimes they do by means of a radar device but in doing so they also have to be cognizant of the fact at those high rates of speeds that anything can go wrong,” warned Bisson.
Police would not confirm where Piotrowski was when the collision happened, or how far away from the racers she was, but its believed she was a spectator when the unthinkable collision occurred.
“They (radar runs) are usually done in a very controlled environment where the tracks are very flat and secure and if there are any spectators they are actually very far from the actual action itself.”
Bisson adds that speed limits of 50 km/h are posted on area trails but not on waterways. However, he reminds snowmobile enthusiasts that they can face serious speeding infractions on frozen bodies of water.
“Lakes and rivers don’t have posted speed limits but it is expected underneath the act that speeds are such that the driver operates it safely and doesn’t endanger anyone,” he said.
“It can go from a speeding offence to a careless offence and all the way to a dangerous driving offence through the criminal code of Canada.”
