Just two weeks after writing the blog Sledding Poses Serious Risks, the story of an eleven-year-old Canadian girl appears. The young girl is recovering after a sledding accident that happened on a popular sledding hill just outside of Vancouver, with two broken legs, a fractured arm, and months of recovery. The girl will require surgery in about four months to remove the hardware used to mend her broken bones followed by physiotherapy.
The schoolgirl reported that she and two other girls had climbed to the top of the hill with an inner tube. They all hopped on and proceeded down the hill at a high speed spinning the entire time. The girls hit a tree at the bottom of the hill and all three lost consciousness, according to the girl’s mother.
The family is now urging others to exercise caution when participating in winter activities. The executive director of the Saskatchewan Prevention Institute, an organization which focuses on prevention, offers a number of tips people can follow to stay safe while tobogganing or sledding. Children should wear a helmet with a light hat underneath to keep their heads warm and protected. Helmets designed to take multiple impacts like a hockey helmet or ski helmet are ideal for sledding. Also choose sleds or toboggans with a braking system and steering system. And proper positioning is equally important, laying on your stomach going head first is dangerous, as is laying on your back. Rather, kneeling is the best way to slide down a hill. More safety tips can be found on the organization’s website (www.preventioninstitute.sk.ca).
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