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The Globe alerted us to the terror of snow last week. Now, the paper has discovered yet another way in which snow threatens us all: sledding.
Yes, the time-honored childhood practice of sliding down snowy hills on whatever implement is available, from Rosebud to cardboard, is much too dangerous to continue as is. A bill has been introduced that would require sledders to wear helmets while sledding, thus ensuring that... well, kids will never sled again, because they would probably rather be caught dead (literally?) than caught sledding with a helmet on. There's also talk of regulating sledding to certain "safe" areas. Ironically, though, regulating sledding could actually increase liability for accidents. If you leave people to their own sledding devices on public land, you're okay; once you start regulating where and how people can sled, you become more liable for what happens on the sled.
"Experts" say (or, an expert says) sleds should be steerable and you should ride them sitting up, which takes all the fun out of it. The whole point of sledding is that you're completely out of control, at the whim of the snow and the hill. And any sledder worthy of the name knows that you don't "steer" when you see trouble, you just bail. Better to lose your sled than lose a limb.
The major injuries and deaths cited in the Globe article all occurred when sledders slammed into stationary objects, including a tree, a parked car, and an exposed pipe. The pipe is the most troubling and least visible of the trio, and probably should have been clearly marked—if not by city officials, then by other sledders who saw it and realized it could be dangerous for their fellow kids. Legislating our safety makes it seem like the state is responsible for taking care of us, when really we all have a great degree of responsibility to ourselves—and to each other. It's not responsible for a parent to let his or her kid sled all over creation without a thought to safety, but nor it is enough to slap a helmet on a kid and call it a day. Teaching kids to avoid and deal with dangerous situations is just as important as putting plastic on their heads.
And what will come next? Mandatory helmets and pads for all winter sports? For walking down the street when it's icy? We need to let kids have their fun, but teach them to be safe about it. If that means helmets, so be it—but let's not see the end of sledding.
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Awesome points all, Kerry.