I should think age is irrelevant in this case. Stupid people come in all shapes and sizes, AND ages.
A Law against cars on the ice is not the answer. That is a HUGE can of worms. Next will be a law against Snow Machines on the ice. Then a law against bobhouses and then people etc. I think inexperience is the problem as has been stated.
It seems that some people do not value their lives as much as others. The person who makes that decision to drive a truck out on the ice when there are no other vehicles without first checking the conditions is not exactly an intelligent person in my book. Like all of you I have been monitoring weather/winni forum/newspapers/etc.etc.etc. to help form my decision to go or not go on the ice with a sled this year. Like most of you I chose not to. The risk is WAY too much for the reward. It isn't like the information is hard to get. So when a truck goes through I shake my head and think this person must have just woken up from a three month coma. Either that or they live in a shed with no electricity/TV/Newspaper/etc.
As far as shortening the recovery period: I can understand Winni diver's position but as was stated you can always refuse to do the recovery based on safety reasons. With that said I still say jack up the fines for those vehicles that go through. Maybe people will think twice before driving a vehicle over questionable ice. If I were a betting man i'd say probably not
