Researchers examined data on 52 children younger than 18 who were hospitalized for sledding injuries at a pediatric trauma center between 2003 and 2011. The 34 boys and 18 girls were an average age of 10 and the most common cause of injury was hitting a tree (63.5 percent).

...and the beat goes on.
the beat goes on.

WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!

// all i got

Absolutely... Some kids get hurt and some kids get hurt badly. I personally broke my foot sledding years ago.

But then, kids get hurt doing every other damned thing as well because our world has sharp corners and kids need to learn how to navigate them.

My worst injury was crushing my tail bone, did I go to a hospital, or stop sledding? Fark no.

"The findings show the need for public education campaigns to highlight the potential dangers of sledding and to encourage helmet use"

"The findings show the need for public education campaigns to highlight the potential dangers of sledding and to encourage helmet use to sled better."

I think I solved that one

Tidewater VA. The only hill for miles around, Mt Trashmore, is off limits for sledding on the one or two snowy days a year around here.

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/01/snow-tradition-mount-trashmore-slides - oblivion (Fark does not like this link)

or even this link...
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/01/snow-tradition-mount-trashmore-slides - oblivion

Meanwhile, another Mt Trashmore, in Illinois, explicitly allows sledding.

Rock mill in Ohio was the sledding spot when I was growing up. The left side of the hill had the steepest incline and lip about halfway down where you'd catch air...so many people had a long walk back to their cars with broken bones on that hill in Podunk Ohio

blazemongr: WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!

// all i got

George does seem to hit more than his share, doesn't he?


Also:


Where's the soapbox speech on snowmobile accidents?

/Friggin single-minded morons

So 3 children in 8 years suffered a permanent injury. I'll take those odds.

We had a hill at the end of our street that was probably a half mile long, 40 degree slope, and once or twice a year it turned to pure ice. Parents would go block traffic at the cross streets at the bottom so no one got run over, and we would haul ass on anything that could carry us down that hill. Good times. And bruises, maybe a broken bone. That's called being a kid.

We have an incredible sledding hill in our neighborhood. It's awesome because it's a bowl so you have people coming from all directions that meet in the middle. Amazing crashes every day.

YouPeopleAreCrazy: Tidewater VA. The only hill for miles around, Mt Trashmore, is off limits for sledding on the one or two snowy days a year around here.

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/01/snow-tradition-mount-trashmore-slides - oblivion (Fark does not like this link)

Well, isn't there a large freeway at the foot of the hill?

diaphoresis:
Where's the soapbox speech on snowmobile accidents?

/Friggin single-minded morons

Snowmobile accidents are self correcting phenoma. I'm waiting for the inevitable "went through the ice" accidents.

oouter: My worst injury was crushing my tail bone, did I go to a hospital, or stop sledding? Fark no.

I didn't quite crush mine but years ago I did get a very deep bruise that took most of the winter to fully heal. Didn't really stop me though.

rjakobi: Well, isn't there a large freeway at the foot of the hill?

Not really, no. It's not that close, and there is a double line of trees, an access road, and the standard freeway fence in between. Easily a couple hundred yards.

"Rosebud..."

Remember kiddies, do not try to catch a kid on an innertube at the bottom of a 500 foot hill with a slope around 40 degrees. Somebody is going to get hurt.

/wished I had it on film last year
//the crash was spectacular

Horrors like quiet desperation?

Global warming is coming to save us all!

Jon H: Global warming is coming to save us all!

Just wait until you hear the horrors of not-snow sledding!

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!

How is it that the solution for this problem was patented 125 years ago this year and yet there are still people who haven't wised up?

It's called "steering" people. The Flexible Flyer and all of the knockoffs over the years have the ability to "steer" the sled so that you don't drive your face straight into a tree.

// My great-great grandfather would be rolling over in his grave if he knew that people were still killing themselves with inferior sledding technology