New signs help paramedics find injured snowmobilers

New reflective blue signs along popular snowmobile trails in Waterloo Region will improve snowmobile safety by helping paramedics locate injured riders when they call 911.

The signs erected by the Golden Triangle Snowmobile Association are located at intersections where a snowmobile trail meets a road. They identify the crossroad, the county and the nearest intersections — information snowmobilers may not know if they are in unfamiliar territory. 

"I've been on many calls in my career where we're just sort of told to go to a general area while they continue to work with the caller to try to figure out where they are,"  deputy chief of Waterloo Region's paramedic services Robert Crossan said in an interview with CBC News. 

"People are just calling and they're like, 'I really don't know where I am. We've been in a collision. My friend looks hurt. Come get us.' That is very challenging."

400 signs to be installed 

Crossan said Waterloo Region sees at least five serious snowmobile accidents every year. And in some cases, the time wasted trying to track people down can be fatal. 

"Last year, up near Listowel, they had a situation up there where a man and his wife were out and she got hurt. He went to the road and 911 response personnel couldn't find them, and she ended up dying at the scene," Ron Horst with the Golden Triangle Snowmobile Association said. 

More than 400 signs are being installed on groomed trails across Waterloo Region, Perth County and Oxford County – paid for by the snowmobile association.