Bylaw lists only 18 legal toboggan hills locations in Calgary.

[pylon]

A teenager down our street was getting dragged by a rope behind a car on a GT snow racer. Got dragged into a parked van, and had his entire thigh turned inside out, it was torn open on the bumper. Ended his hockey career, and almost lost his leg. It was horrific, me and my dad came out, and all the fat and muscle was hanging out of his leg. He was an incredible player, and was a good chance he would end up pro.

Anyone who grew up in Lake Bonavista in the late 80's early 90's likely knows who I am talking about.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by SebC

To me, the question to ask is: are there any spots that should be on this list but aren't?

Its not just that the Hills are good enough and safe enough. The city visits these hills weekly to insure there is proper snow coverage, the Hills are clean and there are no jumps, so that they can confirm these 18 hills are safe to use. Everywhere else is restricted because they don't have the staff to insure the hills are safe.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by pylon

Got dragged into a parked van, and had his entire thigh turned inside out, it was torn open on the bumper. .

Very similar to what happened to my daughter tobogganing, except it was her foot. Might have been the most grotesquely fascinatingly horrible thing I have ever seen. Nasty nasty injuries.






























Now I'll just wait for it....

[RW99]

I was never cool enough to own a GT Snow Racer. But once I tried one I thought it was too slow. Crazy Carpets were my thing, but of course the handles would rip off fairly quickly.

[HarryH93]

Originally Posted by pylon

A teenager down our street was getting dragged by a rope behind a car on a GT snow racer. Got dragged into a parked van, and had his entire thigh turned inside out, it was torn open on the bumper. Ended his hockey career, and almost lost his leg. It was horrific, me and my dad came out, and all the fat and muscle was hanging out of his leg. He was an incredible player, and was a good chance he would end up pro.

Anyone who grew up in Lake Bonavista in the late 80's early 90's likely knows who I am talking about.

Holy smokes, that's disgusting.

The most horrific accident I've seen was at the Prairie Winds hill, that thing is a long, steep hill. A young couple and their baby daughter, no older than 3 or 4, were near the bottom of the hill. The girl was sledding down roughly 5 or 6 meters, nothing serious. At the top of the hill were these 3 teenage idiots on one of these snow racers and out of all the places on this huge hill that they could've went down, they chose to go down the exact path that the little girl was going down with her parents. I watched as these kids came flying down and shouted to get the kid out of the way because it looked like a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, one of the kids on the racer lost control & couldn't move out of the way and just battered the poor girl. She went flying and landed so hard on her back that I felt the pain myself. Her dad picked her up and ran for his life to their SUV. I still think about that moment every time I see kids sledding.

[GranteedEV]

I grew up on Krazy Karpets. Hell, in Phys-Ed class over at Cecil Swanson Elementary when I were a wee lad, the whole damn class would get a Krazy Karpet to go wild on the hill under teachers' supervision. The things musta been dirt cheap, because that school didn't get fundin' for anythin'.

........................And that hill isn't even on this list.

...................................I still have a purple Krazy Karpet, somewhere in my dad's garage.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Minnie

Very similar to what happened to my daughter tobogganing, except it was her foot. Might have been the most grotesquely fascinatingly horrible thing I have ever seen. Nasty nasty injuries.

MOD EDIT: Not needed.

[Wormius]

I did a few flips on my tobaggan going down a trail on Knox Mtn once, in Kelowna. I was 10 or 11, and my friend and I had been barely able to climb up the steep hill in the first place. The trail itself was only wide enough for the tobaggan, and on both sides was brush. Of course on the way down, we hit a bump and flipped a few times, and went off course into the brush still going at a good speed. We were pretty lucky not to have broken anything, and it turned out to just be a live and learn experience.

I don't disagree with the bylaw. It gives the city the ability to hand out a warning if the tobaganning is being done in some unsafe manner or location, or they can just ignore the situation if there's nothing more dangerous than hurdling yourself down a hill happening.

[jonesy]

why does everyone think the ban will protect the city against lawsuits? Post #5 indicates that hamilton had a ban and still lost the 900k lawsuit.

[wretched34]

Are you telling me, I could have sued the government when I broke 4 ribs mountain biking from Kanaskis to Banff? Or the school I went to, since it was a field trip....
I mean, it's obviously their fault that I was being a kid, and goofing around, when obviously I shouldn't have been. Someone other than me needs to be held responsible for my actions. What's the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit regarding personal injury in Alberta? I may never have to take responsibility for my life again.....

SMH, I hate most humanity.

[RyZ]

There were at least 20 people toboganing down the hill in Lake Sundance when I drove by yesterday and heaven forbid, it is not on the nanny list of approved hills. I'm glad most people are going to thumb their nose at this nonsense.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by RyZ

There were at least 20 people toboganing down the hill in Lake Sundance when I drove by yesterday and heaven forbid, it is not on the nanny list of approved hills. I'm glad most people are going to thumb their nose at this nonsense.

Like everyone has been for the last decade? The bylaw is over a decade old, at least...

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by RyZ

There were at least 20 people toboganing down the hill in Lake Sundance when I drove by yesterday and heaven forbid, it is not on the nanny list of approved hills. I'm glad most people are going to thumb their nose at this nonsense.

The law's been in place since 2004 and I don't think it's every actually been enforced.

[keratosis]

Its a law?

[#-3]

Originally Posted by jonesy

why does everyone think the ban will protect the city against lawsuits? Post #5 indicates that hamilton had a ban and still lost the 900k lawsuit.

I heard they won the law suit, but are still on the hook for all the lawyers fees.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by pylon

Anyone who grew up in Lake Bonavista in the late 80's early 90's likely knows who I am talking about.

Oh the suspense is killing us. Please tell us who it is. The knowledge you hold over us is awesome. If you can make it into a life story that shows how you overcame adversity it would be great.

[Sr. Mints]

I've mentioned on here that I broke my back tobogganing at the age of 21. Here's a piece I wrote for tomorrow's Metro:

I broke my back tobogganing a decade ago, but I don’t want it banned

I’ve watched the debate about whether cities should ban tobogganing with some interest. Sledding can be dangerous, and I think municipalities should have some control over where it happens. I should know.

I broke my back a decade ago while sledding at Confederation Park in Calgary, and my life has been altered by that event.

On Boxing Day of 2003, my brother and I decided to go sledding. I hadn’t been tobogganing in a decade and the weather was fantastic: Sunny, blue skies, mild temperature — there may have been Chinook that day . . .

More.

edit: one thing that didn't make it into the final version (word count restrictions, etc.), is that if the City is going to designate safe places to toboggan, it oughta' make sure those places are safe. Parts of Confederation Park are not safe: the hill does not taper off nicely in certain places (directly east of 10th St., for example.) You just go from downhill to flat surface in the blink of an eye, and that's where I slammed my ass on the ground at ~80 kms an hour.

[para transit fellow]

Bumping this thread with recent media coverage.


"Calls for new safety measures after tobogganing mishap leaves teen paralyzed"
http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calls-for-...yzed-1.2741077


‘I went head first into a lightpost’: Calgary teen paralyzed after tobogganing
http://globalnews.ca/news/2461722/i-...r-tobogganing/

Calgary Fundraiser For Teen Injured In Tobogganing Accident Raises Over $20,000
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/01...n_9010450.html

[llwhiteoutll]

We don't need a new law or additional safety measures on every single incline in town someone MIGHT slide down.

What we do need is for people to excersise common sense. This incident is the result of poor judgement and a lack of forethought, nothing else.

[Ducay]

Dumb mistake on his part; poor guy is going to have to live with the consequences so I feel for him. But at a certain point we have to accept accidents happen and common sense must be exercised. We don't need crowdfunding, fences around hills, and demands for municipal change over what amounts to a freak accident in an activity with known risk.