(Photo credit: Anthony J/Creative Commons)
You likely look back fondly on the winters you spent tobogganing and sledding down snowy hills for hours, but this may soon be a thing of the past for today’s kids. More cities in Canada and the US are implementing sledding and tobogganing restrictions or bans due to serious injuries and liability issues.
Recently, Dubuque, Iowa, joined the list of cities implementing sledding bans with tobogganing no longer allowed in their 50 parks.
In Canada, Hamilton has banned tobogganing in the city for 15 years, but the recent installation of more “no tobogganing” signs led to a new wave of public outcry with a petition drawing 1,000 signatures. Residents can be fined between $105 to $5,000 for tobogganing, according to the city’s bylaws. Despite the city’s ban, in 2013, an arbitration settlement decided that the city should pay $900,000 to a Hamilton lawyer after he suffered a spinal injury during a sledding accident in 2004, according to the Hamilton Spectator.
This year, Sudbury also joined banning the winter activity so there are no designated sliding hills in the city, Sudbury’s Director of Leisure Services told the Sudbury Northern Life newspaper. The ban comes after a serious sledding accident last year that left a man with a spinal injury while on one of the city’s popular hills. He filed a lawsuit against the city, which was settled. The site of the incident has been fenced off.
In Toronto, a tobogganing ban has been placed on 14 of the city’s parks, including Earl Bales, Rouge Park and Centennial Park, due to unsafe sledding conditions. Aspects that determine the site’s risk profile include any previous accidents, the risk of trees, fences, hedges or steel sewer grates affecting the toboggan run or having two hills meet at the bottom where kids could run into each other, Toronto Parks Director Richard Ubbens told Global News.
While in Orangeville, residents are protesting against a sign that calls for no tobogganing, which was erected on a commonly used sledding hill, but isn’t designated as one.
A spinal cord injury expert told CBC News that the winter activity is considered a high risk. It’s the fourth dangerous recreational activity behind diving into shallow water, parachuting and snowmobiling, but he doesn’t agree with an all-out ban. But people sledding should take precautions.
According to Parachute Canada, a charity educating others on preventable injuries, there’s an average of 37.7 catastrophic injuries for every 100,000 sledders. Research has shown that 50 per cent of catastrophic injuries were to the head and 22.5 per cent of catastrophic injuries suffered were to the spine. Sledders hitting a tree was the most common reason for injury.
While most Canadian cities have passed on implementing tobogganing bans, anyone sledding runs the risk of injury, even if toboggan hills are maintained.
If you continue to go sledding, the City of Ottawa offers some tips to stay safe:
Before heading out, make sure you check the weather to ensure safe weather conditions.
- Go tobogganing during the daytime since this way you can see and react to any other tobogganners on the hills.
- Wait until the path is clear before heading down the hill.
- When you reach the bottom of the hill, quickly get out of the way and when climbing back up the hill, make sure to climb on the hillside to avoid oncoming sledding traffic,
- Wear a helmet when sledding and keep your hands, arms and legs in the sled to avoid being injured.
- Go down the hills kneeling or sitting, but don’t go head down when sledding since it puts you at greater risk of a head injury.
- Don’t bring your pets with you while on the slopes.
- Avoid sledding on hills that are steep and icy and stick to hills with gentle slopes.
- Avoid sledding on hills where there are obstacles nearby, at time even off sledding course
- Be sure to maintain your balance to avoid going off course and potentially hitting an obstacle
Winter’s snow and ice can lead to dangerous motor vehicle accidents for drivers and slip and fall accidents for pedestrians. Whether you’re headed out by car or foot, give yourself extra time to get to your location so you’re not in a rush while travelling.
The personal injury and accident lawyers at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers have been handling accident injuries for over 40 years, and we know how to help you get compensation after a slip and fall accident. Call us at 416-920-4242 to set up a free consultation.
Greg Neinstein
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