Sledding accident victim has advice for sledders
Sledding is not illegal in Boise parks
Sledders will probably be out in full force this weekend, but before you hit the hill some safety tips may be in order. We don't want to sound like we're anti-sledding, but keep in mind; there are no laws regulating sledding at Camels Back Park or any Boise park for that matter.
So, if you or your kids head out there you might want to consider a couple of simple things, before you learn the hard way. We caught this crash on camera Thursday at Camels Back. The young lady in the video hit by a sledder is recovering. She’s the one on the left in yellow.
“I'm in so much pain, like you know I thought I’d be better today. I can't move my leg and I can't walk; it’s a horrible feeling,” said 18 year old Julia Umberger.
She says she can't believe she got hit. Friday we talked to her about the crash and her reaction to the video.
“It’s almost unreal to me, watching myself get thrown; I remember exactly what I was thinking. I thought, oh wow, I just got hit by something. And then all of a sudden this pain started coming, and I couldn't talk for a while, it was such a bad pain, then I started screaming and I think that’s when people knew something was wrong,” said Umberger.
It happened during a snow day when an out of control sledder crashed into the group stalled on the hill and directly in his path.
“Yeah we look like we were hit with a bowling ball, don't we?” said Umberger.
The sledder who caused it, forgot the number one rule of sledding: look downhill before you go.
“I don't want to sled ever again. That was one of my first times sledding; it was so unsafe. If it's crowded it's a definite no, there's so many things that can go wrong,” said Umberger.
But, sledding is a winter pastime, that can be fun and safe if you do it right.
“I kind of looked at who is down at the bottom, make sure I’m not going to hit anybody,” said Derek Brown, sledding at Simplot Hill.
While there are no laws against sledding in a Boise park or on Simplot hill, there are a few things to keep in mind.
“There’s this road you could go flying down into an oncoming car, there's a lot of things that could go wrong if you can't gauge your speed and control it,” said Brown.
And even though there aren't any set rules or regulations, common courtesy and even a little bit of experience might make your snow day the fun and exciting one it should be.
Julia Umberger is a tennis player at Borah High; she was severely bruised in that crash and isn’t' sure if she'll be ready for the upcoming season.








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