What's faster: light or a Maine snowmobile?

If you answered light, then you paid attention in high school physics. And if you also know the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second (note, that's per second, not per hour), then you probably even passed that physics class.

If you said a snowmobile is faster, then you have been reading and believing press releases from the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Here's a quote from one of the department's recent press releases regarding the death of a snowmobiler. We've deleted the names because this is about science, not who did what. "Mr. ... and his brother ....were traveling across (the) lake around 10:30 p.m. at an apparent high rate of speed when (they) came upon the shore and hit a maple tree ... 'He was overdriving his headlights. The shore came up too fast and he hit a maple tree,' " according to the warden.

It's that phrase, "overdriving his headlights" that bothers us. It just can't be done. The light from the vehicle's headlights travels at the aforementioned speed of light, so no matter how fast the snow machine goes, it's can't drive over, past or ahead of its own lights.

Maybe there's a souped-up snowmobile out there like the Beach Boys' "Little Deuce Coupe," which was "ported and relieved and ... stroked and bored." Maybe it could do 140 miles per hour. Light still would easily win that drag race.

Just to be sure, we checked with a physics prof at Colby College. After he stopped laughing, he agreed that if Maine snowmobiles are outrunning light, NASA should know about it because they could get us to Mars a helluva lot faster that anything NASA's got now.

Not to make too much light (oops) of the problem of speeding snowmobiles.

It ought to be obvious that the faster you drive, especially at night when visibility is limited, there is less time to slow down when a tree suddenly appears in your sight. And when we checked with the agency, they said that's exactly what they mean by the warning about "overdriving" your headlights.

So, we commend the state wardens for warning snowmobilers to slow down, especially at night.

But there's no need to violate the immutable rules of the universe to make their point.