When kids are out of school, the hill at the Van Buren Town Park is a popular place to go sledding. On Sunday, two children were hurt, not seriously, when they got in a sledding accident. Their tube went through a fence and crashed into a playground. The incident comes two weeks after a 12-year-old girl died in a sledding accident at the Westcott Reservoir in Geddes.
"Certainly the Westcott Reservoir incident was a tragedy," says Van Buren Town Supervisor, Claude Sykes. "We don't want to see any children injured. Of course, we're trying to do everything we can, within budget constraints, to protect them."
Sykes says the town will be reviewing the accident report, and seeing what other municipalities have done to keep their sledding hills safe. The town does allow sledding in the park but, there are rules. The town has already taken steps, including fencing, to make the hill safe and, in light of what happened here, the town supervisor says additional changes could be coming.
"We've talked about the inclusion of another row of hay barrels that precedes the safety fence, double up with some space in between," Sykes said.
Sykes has gotten calls from concerned citizens and one suggested banning some tubes. That is something the town is now looking into. Sykes says they don't want to ban sledding here altogether, they are just looking at possible changes. Changes, he says, if made, would, most likely, not take effect until next winter.
