VOTE: Montville considers fines for ban on sledding

Every town has to have a “suicide hill” – a slope steep enough to ride a sleigh that would allow you to reach breakneck speeds before hitting the bottom.

The adrenaline rush is phenomenal – and it’s just one right of passage every kid in American should experience at least once in his or her life.

But towns around the country are beginning to crack down on what will become new “offenders” – since they don’t want to take on the risk of liability due to injury that could happen if someone gets hurt sledding down one of these.

Consider this report:

And New Jersey is joining the ranks of states with towns that have banned sledding.
Montville in North Jersey is one of them.

There, the town is considering fining anyone who tries, according to a recent report.

According to this, the proposed ordinance would ban and fine anyone caught doing it in public parks.

Sledding has been off limits since 2007 in Montville, but the addendum gives the ordinance the ability to fine anyone who dares to defy the ban.

Camp Dawson Hill is one of those places where barriers had been put up to protect kids from injury, but they just kept getting ignored.

The hill had been a popular site for children to sled down since the 60s; but with the arrival of more and more residents – plus a couple of lawsuits prompted by parents of kids who’ve injured themselves on the slopes – Camp Dawson had become a place where – unless you wished to risk a fine – fun had gone “to die.”

Why?

Because the town’s insurance carrier advised officials it would be better off just to ban sledding altogether.

Sad, isn’t it?

So instead of placing a sign on the hill – like Megyn Kelly suggests in her piece – stating “sledding at your own risk”- everyone suffers.

Especially kids in Montville, who will probably never know the thrill that comes with the next winter snow.