Snowmobiler paralyzed in crash warns riders to get insured

Camille René was out riding her snowmobile with a friend in her friend's backyard in Saint-Léonard-d'Aston,130 kilometres west of Quebec City, last Feb. 3, when the throttle jammed.

René's friend managed to get off the machine, but René continued riding and tried to release the gas.

"I wasn't looking where I was going, and there was a snowbank, and I drove right into it," René said.

Her snowmobile flew off the snowbank and launched her into the air. She went one way, her machine went the other.

René says the landing didn't hurt that much because she wasn't going very fast.

"I tried to get back up as if nothing had happened because I wasn't in pain," she recalled. "My legs wouldn't follow my body."

She tried again to move, but her legs wouldn't budge. Once in hospital, René learned the full extent of her injuries: four broken ribs, a fractured neck, a concussion and a broken spinal cord.

She underwent an eight-hour operation, and when she came to, René learned she would never walk again — news she received as she celebrated her 23rd birthday with friends and family in hospital.

"It was a lot to handle," she said. "I would have preferred to have my birthday somewhere else."

That wasn't the end of her grief.

René soon discovered her insurance didn't cover personal injury.

She carried the mandatory third-party liability insurance that comes with the access pass to the province's snowmobile trails, meaning she was only covered in case she caused bodily harm to another snowmobiler or caused property damage.

"I thought I was insured through my licence plate," René said. "Like a car, when you pay your licence plates, if you have an accident and are injured, you're covered by the SAAQ," René said.

In order to pay to have her parents' home adapted for wheelchair access, René's friends and family started a crowdfunding campaign, raising almost $23,000 within the first month. 

Licence fees don't include coverage 

While snowmobilers are required to pay licence plate fees for their machines, none of the money actually goes toward Quebec's collective insurance plan.

Off-road vehicles such as snowmobiles aren't covered under the provincial automobile insurance board's no-fault insurance policy.

By comparison, about one-third of the cost of licence plates for cars and other on-road vehicles contribute to that policy.

The SAAQ's Gino Desrosiers says the insurance board does remind people who drive off-road vehicles such as snowmobiles that they need to purchase their own personal injury coverage.

"The information is available on our website. People who renew a licence plate get a notice, and our personnel have that information on hand," he explained.

However, Desrosiers says he can't guarantee that people who register their snowmobiles for the first time are always given that information.

He says it's something the SAAQ could improve upon.

René only began riding this season, and she says no one ever mentioned to her she had to get personal injury insurance when she paid for her licence plate.

"Had I gotten more information myself and been better informed, of course, I would have taken out an insurance policy," she said.

Confusion among snowmobilers

Le Relais l'Étape in the Laurentians wildlife reserve between Quebec City and Saguenay is a popular rest stop for snowmobilers looking to fill up on gas and grab a bite.

On a recent visit, dozens were zipping by on their sleds to soak in the last few weeks of the season. 

Among them was Serge Martin, who'd travelled several hundred kilometres from his home in Drummondville on his black and yellow Bombardier Renegade.

The veteran snowmobiler says he is well aware of what insurance he needs to ride.

However, Martin says René's story is proof the Quebec Federation of Snowmobile Clubs needs to do a better job at communicating information.

"She thought she was covered, like she was in her car," Martin said. The fact that that's not the case "has to be made clear."

Louis-Philippe Vermette, 17, from Saint-Hyacinthe, east of Montreal, agrees there could be better information out there.

This winter is his first season on the trails, riding a secondhand Bombardier Ski-Doo he bought online.

Like René, he thought his licence plate provided him with some personal injury insurance.

"I was only told I had to be insured ... with third party liability insurance to ride," he said. "Nothing about personal injury."

Jean-François Raté from the Quebec City region also has questions about snowmobile insurance. He just got back into the sport, and he says​ he's covered for injuries through a policy he has with his job.

However, he admits he thought the mandatory insurance that came with his trail pass covered him for personal injuries.

"Seeing as we have to pay to be on the trail, it's with the federation, and we pay for insurance — for me, it's like I was fully insured," he said.

Raté was also under the impression his snowmobile licence plate came with some sort of insurance benefit, like on his car. 

Michel Garneau of the Quebec Federation of Snowmobile Clubs agrees there's confusion among riders when it comes to coverage. 

But he says snowmobilers have to be aware of what insurance they have and what it covers.

"People have to do their homework," Garneau said. 

"It's everyone's responsibility to look out for themselves."

However, he says René's ordeal is unfortunate and agrees his organization will have to review how it informs snowmobilers about their coverage.

"There's no such thing as too much information."

René says a start would be to make sure everybody who registers a snowmobile gets a pamphlet detailing what kind of insurance they need and should get.

"That way everyone would have the information," she said," and everybody would get insurance."