On thin ice

The presence of motor vehicles on frozen lakes and ponds has been a seasonal concern for some ice fishermen, wildlife wardens and environmentalists, who believe that cars and trucks do not belong on the ice.

A motor vehicle traveling too fast on the ice is a threat to bystanders and its passengers. A car that plunges through thin ice endangers its occupants, and even if it is retrieved without human casualties, it poses problems for the environment. Cars and trucks loaded with gasoline and oil were not intended to be totally immersed. The experience isn’t good for the machine, and it also can raise havoc with the quality of the water.

Current Maine law already provides the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to restrict vehicles above a certain size from traveling the ice over a public water supply, but a rash of accidents this winter on frozen lakes has forced legislators, law enforcement officials and the public to question whether vehicles belong on any ice-covered body of water.

Although lawmakers frequently overreact to isolated accidents, the spate of problems this winter, at least one a collision involving a parked truck and a moving vehicle, point up that congestion has become a factor that adds punch to the historic challenge to the wisdom of allowing vehicles on the ice in the first place.

One bill introduced in this session would prohibit the driving or parking of vehicles on ice-covered bodies of water. Conviction carries a $200 fine. The law would allow law-enforcement officials to have the vehicle removed, at the owner’s expense. This creates the image of a tow-truck hauling a big four-wheel drive off a frozen pond, because, in part, the state wanted to protect the water from contamination in the event that a heavy vehicle broke through the ice.

But in an imperfect, increasingly crowded outdoor world, the proliferation of misjudgments, alcohol and lack of basic common sense eventually will force state government to act to protect the public and water quality. It has been suggested that local communities regulate the practice, but such a law would confuse the issue — with some ice closed and other frozen areas open to vehicular traffic. Many bodies of water are shared by a number of communities, creating the potential for conflict in regulations.

When the state acts, it should do so comprehensively, with a statute that encompasses all frozen bodies of water. There was a time when it was easy to ignore this issue, but with snowmobiles and three- and four-wheeled off-road vehicles offering convenient access to almost any lake or pond, and with the presence of cars and trucks on ice reaching an unacceptable level, the time has come for the state to demand that they park on the beach.