As a coach, I can pretty confidently state that the reason for a lot of injuries is because of the old school mentally when it comes to hitting. Coaches love the big hit. But they don't spend a lot of time on safe or heads up tackling technique that protects the neck and back and head of the tackler for example. they spend way to much time on scheme and reads.
I also think that coaches fail to teach players how to absorb a hit safely.
I also think that coaches need to spend extra time with young and new players in terms of how their equipment fits, that their helmets are properly inflated to their heads.
The other big thing is getting players to understand concussion symptoms and the difference between hurt and injured.
I wouldn't have a problem with letting my kid play full contact full equipment football, I don't think taught properly that its more dangerous then lets say hockey or lacrosse or even soccer. With the right coaching.
http://usafootball.com/health-safety/how-to-tackle
For example with the girls I'm coaching a lot of them are novices. We are going to have a full day football safety camp that covers tackling, taking a tackle, injury symptoms, equipment usage, etc.
On top of that since we practice three times a week, we spend 15 minutes of every practice working on heads up tackling and tacking a hit properly. A old pro once told me it takes 1000 tackles to even start to get it right.
If we coach our kids properly then we can change the game.