Getting dragged by a car is not sledding in the traditional connotation of the word- it takes away the capability of steering, braking and halting safely. The distance between the apparent innocence of the sight and how easily it can cause trouble was sharpened to tragedy in Frisco Texas after two teenagers on a sled were injured when the ride ended in a bloody crash.
At around 2.30pm, the police in Frisco, a city north of Dallas were responding to a call in a residential neighborhood where witnesses reported that a 16 year old boy driving a Jeep Wrangler was dragging two 16 year old girls on a sled. The sled struck a curb and then a tree. Both girls were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, one of them had died. Her mother and father recognized her as Elizabeth Angle, a sophist at Wakeland High School, and stated that her closest friend Grace was still on life support. The school said that Angle was popular with other children and educators and her club coach, Luis Ramos, remarked that “she was a born leader”.
The accident occurred on an unusual wintry day when areas of North Texas were covered with Snow and Ice- conditions that can attract impromptu winter games in a state where most families do not own a traditional sledding set or even visit hills. Residents in the area called the event shocking with an empty street suddenly crowded with police and rescue departments and crime scenes.
The business of being towed, however, is what safety experts and warnings by law enforcement have continued to go round and round: the rider does not have much control, and the driver cannot be able to control accurately what transpires behind the car. The track of a sled may change with the slightest change of the road surface, and a curb, parked automobile, mail-box, pole, or tree is an immovable object. According to the American Academy of orthopedic surgeons, a sled collision with an immobile object can result in severe head and neck injuries to the riders and that certain injuries may be so severe such as leading to permanent disability or death. The same advice reminds of the frequency of the injuries towards the end of a running session when children are gathered together, and there is no more empty space.
Sledding, snow tubing and tobogganing-related injuries are not unique in the U.S. The AAOS refers to the figures of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which indicate that over 52,000 individuals received related injuries in medical facilities in 2014, and the overall expenses were estimated at approximately 2 billion USD. Another fact that is recorded by the organization is that most injuries occur in the youth 14 years and below, which highlights the rapid rate at which speed and hard surfaces overwhelm the growing control and judgment.
Riding behind a vehicle is also a reflection of a dangerous behavior that some sheriff offices call, in their own words, “skitching”, a behavior that may result in the ticketing of both the driver and the rider and, in the case when someone is injured, much more severe legal implications. Those warnings are centered on the same fact, the vision of the driver is narrow, the reaction time is low, and the individual who is being towed has no sure way to evade an obstacle once the speed gains momentum.
The conventional rules of safety sledding activity are expected to sound simple until a local street is used as a “hill”. It is suggested by the experts that one should use open and gently sloping areas with an evident run-out, to scan the area with a rock, poles, fences, and trees, and to keep the children off of the roads and parking lots. The AAOS also recommends the use of helmets to avoid head injuries, and the use of active adult supervision to avoid collisions- particularly where sleds automatically focus towards the identical stopping area.
To families that are bereaved with a sudden loss, a reminder about safety can come like a sorely needed pain. The parents of Angle also mentioned that they hope that the events of her death will provide a lesson on the risks of getting pulled behind cars even in the quiet neighborhood streets.
