More towns banning sledding in parks

You knew it was coming:  Cities and towns across the country are banning...sledding...in city parks.

Wondering how that started?  Well, some people who were injured sued, and a few insanely stupid juries--their emotions expertly played by personal-injury lawyers--awarded staggering sums to people who admittedly were grievously injured--but due to their own incompetence in pointing their sleds at trees or similar large immovable objects.

In turn, insurance companies that had to pay most of those damage awards hiked the premiums on towns that didn't ban sledding.  Then prudent city officials--likely realizing they were faced with either paying higher premiums or getting raises or bonuses for themselves--made the obvious choice.

And that was the end of that.

Country is dead, dead, dead.

This particular tiny wound could have been avoided had jurors said "Sorry you were injured but if you're over 8 years old you should have a good working knowledge of gravity's effects, and should know that you can't go steering into trees and expect not to be injured.  We award you one dollar."

Eh, "At this point what difference could it possibly make?"  (Gosh, that sounds familiar.)