Shocking figure

Tobogganing fun with risk: 2,200 injuries per year

More than 2,200 people are injured while tobogganing in Austria every year. This year's season is heading for a sad record (symbolic image).

(Bild: zoom.tirol)

In Austria, around 2200 injured people have to be treated in hospital after tobogganing accidents every year. That's around twelve injuries per day during the tobogganing season. According to the Austrian Road Safety Board (KFV), only a few were wearing a helmet during the accident. Children are particularly at risk.

The serious tobogganing accidents in Tyrol, Salzburg and Carinthia at the start of the year have once again shown that the dangers of this leisure sport are often underestimated. "That's around twelve people injured per day during the tobogganing season," said the KFV in a press release. Around 75 percent of those injured were not wearing a helmet during the accident.

Head injuries are particularly common
Most accident victims reported to the KFV that they had fallen, tripped, jumped or been pushed. However, contact with static objects such as a tree or a notice board is also "not that rare", accounting for 25 percent of cases.

Helmets are a very simple and effective protective measure when tobogganing. Even a collision with an obstacle at ten km/h can lead to serious injuries in children.

Johanna Trauner-Karner, Leiterin des Bereichs Sport- und Freizeitsicherheit im KFV

Around eight percent of accident victims suffer head injuries - that's around 176 people per year. Craniocerebral trauma can be particularly serious among head injuries, which is why wearing a helmet is especially advisable. "Helmets are a very simple and effective protective measure when tobogganing. Even a collision with an obstacle at ten km/h can lead to serious injuries - especially head injuries - in children," emphasized Johanna Trauner-Karner, Head of Sports and Leisure Safety at the KFV.

Two people die in tobogganing accidents every year
Around 75 percent of those involved in accidents were not wearing a helmet during the accident. "Unfortunately, helmets are not yet a matter of course, even in the youngest age group," criticized the KFV. According to ÖKAS data, an average of two people a year have died in tobogganing accidents in Austria over the past ten years.