Stay off the sidewalks, Town of Kensington tells snowmobilers

The Town of Kensington is reminding snowmobilers in the area that sidewalks and roads are off-limits.

The Kensington police chief and the mayor have both noticed snowmobiles that aren't keeping to their designated paths within the community, and they want to raise awareness about what's allowed.

"I suspect that it could be just a matter of not being ... informed as well as they need to be and not recognizing that there's a safe corridor to travel off the streets in Kensington," said Mayor Rowan Caseley.

The mayor believes having snowmobiles travelling on the sidewalks is dangerous.

"You could be hitting somebody that's walking," he said. "It also packs down the snow on the sidewalks and makes it slippery for the other people."

Casely stressed that the town and its businesses do appreciate having snowmobiles around.

"We do have a corridor marked off between the train station and the downtown … where operators can travel and get to the downtown core to get their gas and coffee, etc.," he said.

"Travelling on streets is certainly frowned upon — and I think it's actually probably illegal."

New snowmobilers less familiar?

The president of the Kensington Area Snowmobile Association said the snowmobilers who are cutting away from the designated corridor could be unaware of where they're allowed to go.

"We're seeing a lot of new snowmobiling this year, a lot of people that haven't snowmobiled in years or haven't snowmobiled at all," said Russell Jollimore.

"These people need to be made aware of the dos and don'ts."

Jollimore said that as soon as the Kensington police chief spoke to him about the issue, he posted a reminder on the group's Facebook page. He noted that the town has set aside parking for machines near the gas station and the train station.

"People can walk, you know, a few hundred feet to get to their restaurant or down for their coffee or or whatever. They don't need to be going up and down the side of the road. That's just not acceptable."

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