The Dangers of Skitching | KC Accident Injury Attorneys
Kansas City parents, is your teen-age thrill seeking child into “skitching”?
Skitching, while not an entirely new concept, is becoming a greater and greater danger to children and teenagers, especially if they are into skateboarding and/ or other extreme sports.
Parents should take an active role in their child’s activities especially if they are into thrill seeking sports and explain that skitching is not only extremely dangerous but also illegal.
What is skitching?
Glamourized in the 1985 film, Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox, skitching has been around for nearly fifty years and has gone by several different names over the years: ski-hitching, ski-joring, hookey-bobbing, or bumper hitching, among others. “Skitching” as it is called now, is when the rider, usually on a skateboard, roller blades, bicycle or a snowboard hitches a ride on a car, truck or even a train by holding on to a rope or tether if not just by hand and “rides along” with the vehicle in order to gain speeds.
What is the risk of injury?
The risk of injury that can be inflicted while skitching far out-weighs the thrill than can be achieved. Besides being illegal, skitching presents a high risk of serious injury even death. There are a lot of things that can go wrong from being pulled under the vehicle to being hit by another vehicle on the road or even just losing control of the board and hitting pavement.
Possible injuries that can occur include but are not limited the combination of:
· Concussion and traumatic brain and spinal injury
· Broken and severely dislocated joints: elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and wrists, shoulders and/or
· Broken or fractured necks
· other broken bones: arms, legs, etc.
· Soft tissue injury to the skin and muscle, particularly abrasion, scrapes and deep cuts
· Nerve damage to the arm and legs
· Facial disfigurment
· DEATH
It’s no secret that many teen-agers do crazy things to get an adrenaline high.
When a child is injured due to his own negligence, there is generally no recourse or compensation for injuries sustained. James Roswold and his experienced team of child accident lawyers know first hand the particularly devastating impact of a serious permanent and uncompensated injury, or worse yet death, and we encourage parents to be alert for dangerous behavior and educate their children as to the perils of such conduct.
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If your child has been injured it's important to speak with an experienced child injury attorney as soon as possible. Please contact us online or call our office directly at 816.471.5111 to schedule your free consultation.