AURELIUS -- Snowmobile safety brought Central New York residents of all ages to the Fingerlakes Mall on Sunday to learn the skills and techniques that will help to prevent them from becoming another statistic.

Nearly 35 students, most of them children who needed to pass the class before they can take their snowmobiles out into the winter weather, showed up for the 8-hour lecture which concluded with a 50 question exam.

"Every year there are bad snowmobile accidents and several of them are fatalities," said Ralph Gray, a retired Cayuga County Sheriff's deputy who taught the safety class for Bass Pro Shop. "A majority are either alcohol related, involve excessive speeds, or both. If we can do something to educate people that snowmobiling can be fun as long as people use common sense, maybe we can prevent some of those accidents."

According to data from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, there were 235 accidents in the winter of 2005-2006, with 14 fatalities.

For the full report, read Monday's edition of The Citizen.