The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission warns that in 2004, 74,000 emergency department and other doctor visits were due to sledding, snow tubing, and tobogganing-related injuries.  This winter season, the American Academy of Pediatrics and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center offer some safety tips winter sports:

• Make sure children wear helmets. Sleds can reach speeds in excess of 20 mph, and 15 percent of sledding-relating injuries in a hospital emergency department are head injuries (and 43 percent of these are brain injuries).  Studies show helmets are 85 percent effect in preventing brain injuries in children during bicycle accidents, and a similar rate should apply for sledding.

• Watch your children. According to the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons, under adult supervision, only 29 percent of the sledding injuries occurred.

• Dress appropriately. Wear bright colors and extra layers, including gloves or mittens, and an appropriate coast.

• When operating a sled, sit face-forward.

• Make sure children are not in the path of a sled makings its way down a steep hill.

• Try not to make your own sled out of ordinary household materials such as cafeteria trays, cardboard boxes, or detached automobile hoods. Such home made devices are even more difficult to control.

• Should you need to exit a sled “immediately” (i.e., while it is moving fast), roll off.