MADISON, Wis. -- Less than one month after a Chicago news anchor was killed in a snowmobile crash in northern Wisconsin, some viewers called for an investigation, and now there is the possibility of laws changing.

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CBS Chicago affiliate reporter David Savini came to Wisconsin to conduct an undercover news investigation.

"It really, really created this massive landslide of e-mails that came into the station, people calling for an investigation," said Savini. "People who said that they had seen it firsthand, the culture, the deadly culture of alcohol, speed and snowmobiling."

Savini reported that amidst the safety-minded riders who take part in snowmobiling, there are a small percentage of reckless ones. He gathered video as countless signs direct snowmobilers to bars, pubs and taverns.

His two hidden cameras exposed the deadly culture loaded with drinking games, half-price specials and free shots.

One man told him, "It don't matter if they can't catch you."

Even at closing time, snowmobilers wanted one more drink.

"I'll give a shot," said one man.

After the last drink, cameras caught the group hitting the trails.

One bartender admitted it's a safety issue.

"I think your story about drinking and snowmobiling has opened eyes," said Gary Eddy, a warden with Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources.

That's when Wisconsin's snowmobile safety committee decided that state law needed to change.

"It's a disgrace," said Eddy.

Eddy has been asked to study the proposal that would tie drunken snowmobiling offenses to an offender's driver's license.

Wisconsin has seen as many snowmobile deaths this season as both Minnesota and Michigan combined, WISC-TV reported.

"This year, we have had 24 funerals resulting from snowmobilers dying in Wisconsin," said Eddy.

One of those funerals involved news anchor Randy Salerno. Salerno was a passenger on the back of a snowmobile driven by his best friend, Scott Herschey. Herschey's blood-alcohol level tested at more than twice the legal limit.

In the past three snowmobile seasons, 86 people have died in Wisconsin and 49 of those deaths involved alcohol, officials said.

"It is going to clean up the image of snowmobiling in Wisconsin. It's going to make the trails safer," said Eddy.

Savini's news investigation obtained the last four years of citations issued by Wisconsin's DNR for operating while intoxicated. DNR wardens handed out 279 citations to drunken snowmobile operators, and not one of them lost their driver's license.

Under current law, someone caught drunken driving on a snowmobile is given a $625 ticket and nothing more. The incident does not go on a person's record, and unless a claim is filed, a person's insurance company would never know.

"There has to be some sense that they're going to be detected and they're going to be arrested and they're going to be convicted," said Nina Emerson. Emerson is the director of the resource center on impaired driving at the UW School of Law.

Both Michigan and Minnesota tie such an offense to the person's driver's license. The change in the law, in both states, decreased the number of snowmobiling fatalities.

Now, some advocates in Wisconsin want similar legislation. They are proposing that a ticket for drunken driving while operating a snowmobile be tied directly to a person's driver's license. The offense would be identical to driving drunk behind the wheel of a car.

"Just look at the law itself; that's a huge deterrent for changing somebody's behavior right there," said Eddy.

The DNR contends that new nighttime speed limits that were put in place last year have noticeably decreased crashes and deaths, but he said alcohol use and abuse seems to be the problem that's increasing on Wisconsin trails.

"The department tries to use whatever tools available to them, to reduce fatalities, to make the trails safer," said Eddy. "I think we're kind of at the level where we're doing about all we can with the tools that we have and it's possibly time to start looking at something else."

Illinois is also considering such legislation. In the past three years, there have been 12 alcohol-related snowmobile accidents in Illinois, compared to 86 in Wisconsin.

Local snowmobile clubs don't see a need to change laws.

"The two aren't related, so I don't see why," said Paul Statz.

Statz is president of the Dane County Council of Snowmobile Clubs and said what is needed is more enforcement on the trails.

"The risk of injury should be enough to deter people," said Statz. "The people that are out there riding at two or three times the legal limit, I don't even know if they're going to think about the fact that it's on their driver's license. They've probably done the same things with their cars."

Statz said he's not sure that those who choose to drive drunk on a snowmobile would even care if tougher penalties are in place.

He said the small group of riders who drive drunk would just do it anyway.

But Eddy said tougher penalties would help bring deaths down.

"I'd love to go in there and have another tool that's just going to make a snowmobiler think," said Eddy. "It's going to, maybe force them a little bit more to make the right decision and not drink and ride."

Earlier this year Gov. Jim Doyle formulated the snowmobile recreation council to look at changing laws and regulations related to snowmobiling.

The group has been looking into the driver's license issue and has even talked about implementing an official snowmobiler's license or permit that could be revoked if a driver is found guilty of drunken driving on a snowmobile.

Laws won't be changing anytime soon.

The DNR said all laws are handled by the state Legislature, which has only a few days left before the current session comes to a close.

If any changes happen it would most likely not be before next year.