A recent three-day ticketing blitz that saw 350 snowmobilers fined for such offenses as traveling into dangerous areas or driving drunk did little to slow the death toll that has now reached 26 across the province this winter.

The total has already outstripped last winter's numbers, which reached 20 snowmobile deaths.

Provincial SQ police representative Claude Denis told CTV Montreal Sunday that the total might be higher because more snow fell this season, leading more drivers to take to the trails.

Three people died in snowmobile accidents Saturday alone, including a nine-year-old boy who was struck at the bottom of a hill while tobogganing on private property between Rangs eight and nine in St. Elisabeth de Proux in the Lac St. Jean region.

The woman driving was not an experienced snowmobiler. She was treated in hospital for extreme nervous shock.

A 43-year-old man also died in separate incident in Lac Louisa in Wentworth in the Laurentians. The man lost control of his vehicle and suffered fatal injury.