Insurance Brief: PA City Regulates Sledding

It’s mid-December, and in places where there’s snow kids are playing in it, especially on sleds. (I remember sledding down the hill behind a local brewery when I was a kid – we always just managed not to end up in the busy cross street at the bottom. )

But a town in western Pennsylvania, citing concerns about liability raised by its insurance company, has voted to ban sledding in a popular local park, while also agreeing to lay out an actual sledding course in another.

The borough council of Beaver, PA, unanimously approved the restrictions, which banned sledding in a park that overlooks the Ohio River, but allows sledders to use a marked course in a different park, though they’re not allowed to start from the top of the hill.

According to the Beaver County Times, the sledding regulations also ban sledding after sunset, require children under twelve to wear helmets, and forbid metal and plastic disc sleds.

Councilwoman Shirley Sayers told the press that officials are merely trying to make the best of a bad situation, and that it was pending lawsuits against the borough for sledding incidents are what prompted the concerns from the insurance company.

I’m all for protecting kids, but is it just me, or is it really sad when something like sledding has to be regulated?