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This article was published 24/1/2015 (2064 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Don’t take away every last vestige of outdoor winter fun — in this case tobogganing — that can still get kids active and out of the house, say parents.

So don’t ban tobogganing on civic properties, like the various garbage hills around the city, the way Hamilton did.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Gabrielle Ainslie, who will be turning seven next month, gets ready to toboggan down the hill along the train tracks on Wellington Cres. Saturday with her mom, Martha. Jan 24, 2015 Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press

The Free Press asked people to respond to an emerging trend banning tobogganing on civic property in some cities.

In Hamilton, it’s against the law to go tobogganing in any city park. The fine is $105, but can be as high as $5,000.

In Calgary, there are now 18 government-approved sites you can slide down. If you ride on a Crazy Carpet on city land not on that list, it will cost you $100.

The reason civic governments are restricting tobogganing is fear of liability from injuries. There are a lot more injuries from tobogganing than you might expect, including brain injuries.

There are even fatalities.

Seven people in Canada died from tobogganing during the period 2003-2007. Eight years ago, a boy from Gilbert Plains suffered a head injury and died.

Winnipeg is not preparing any prohibition at this time, but bans are gaining momentum in both Canada and the Untied States.

Yvette Stevenson, watching her son, Pierre, 9, slide down garbage hill in Westview Park, said kids need something to get them away from computers and tobogganing is one activity that still does the trick.

"My son is having a sleepover tonight and I asked him what they’re going to do. He said they’ll stay downstairs and play Wii," she said.

That’s the norm these days. "When I was a kid, we had to go outside for our fun."

Statistics show people are becoming increasingly sedentary and less social because they spend so much time on the Internet. As well, parents have become increasingly protective of their kids. "People don’t let their kids go out and play," Stevenson said.

"I think it’s stupid," said father Jeff Lim of a possible ban on tobogganing on civic properties. Lim was watching his sons, Kai, 9, and Jet, 7, slide down the Westview Park hill. "The thing is we want to get kids outside."

Lim would rather government enforce use of helmets. Neither his children or anyone else’s were wearing helmets on the garbage hill at the time.

Ben Winters feels the same way. He maintained his son, Jaxon, just 2, will be wearing a helmet when he’s old enough to slide down hills on his own.

"I just think it is kind of ridiculous. There’s a danger in almost anything you do," he said. Father and son were making the best of a makeshift hill where Route 90 crosses Wellington Crescent.

But helmet use could spread the way it has where many kids wear helmets while skating, and are required to by law while riding bikes.

"It is a Canadian tradition," Winters said of tobogganing. "Play safe and have fun."

The City of Winnipeg’s website lists 11 official tobogganing sites, but kids and their parents use hundreds of hills, large and small, around the city.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca