Snowmobilers injured in northern Vermont during the 1971-72 and 1972-73 seasons were compared with uninjured snowmobilers from the same communities. Slightly over 2% of snowmobiles per year are involved in injury events. Lack of familiarity with the machine or the environment was an important factor in injury events. Among injured adults there was overrepresentation of persons who had been drinking, who tend to be frustrated often and to express this by fighting, who have higher horsepower machines which they use at faster speeds, who drive a greater highway mileage, and who have an excess of previous snowmobile injuries, highway crashes, and traffic citations.

The vehicle itself appeared to contribute to the occurrance or severity of injury in at least half of the events, and there is urgent need to improve upon the stability, lighting, energy attenuation capacity, and other features of the snowmobile.

Gross inadequacies of emergency care were identified, including use of alcohol after injury, delay in seeking care and general absence of first aid, including only rare splinting for fractures. Finally, when the injured arrived at the hospital some of them were lectured and berated because their injuries had involved a form of recreation not to the liking of some members of the hospital staff.