I’m just about recovered now from breaking my collar bone when i came off in Philips Park in Prestwich at the end of April. Personally i regard the injury as ‘just one of those things that happen’ and a likely risk when out riding.

I didn’t report the injury to anyone such as the council who own the park. Part of me thinks that by reporting injuries then it would lead to councils not providing these facilities or at least making them more sterile. On the other hand, being from a business background i know that the council probably need to know if people are having accidents.

What do you think? Should i have reported it or not?

What happened? How did you break it? Mistake on your behalf or something dangerous in the park? That would probably swing my decision….

I can see where you;re coming from and the problem is how it’s investigated – if it;s investigated properly then someone can evaluate if the injury was caused by poor trail design – the solution being to redesign the trail – or by user ineptitude – the solution being to point and laugh like Nelson Muntz 🙂

alterntaively the “investigation” may be cursory and may simply involve someone making the decision that it;s all dangerous and should be closed

I’ve seen the latter happen when a busy body reported “illegal” jumps in a local park. The council sent a bulldzer to flatten them and when asked why, responded “the jumps were built in a dangerous fashion”. Well, they weren’t, they were very well constructed jumps that required a degree of skill to use. The guy driving the bulldozer would probably have hurt jimself badly if he’d have ridden them but that would have been due to user ineptitude not poor trail design / construction

in this case, the trails have been designed and built with the participation (or at least knowledge) of the council so I’d like to think it would be investigated properly

I think that this is why i’d be reluctant to report it – all the investigation business.

I came off on the new red route from the car park (by the giant acorn). Someone else referred to it as ‘Turrets hill’ as there is a large amount of surprised swearing as the lip of the hill catches so many out. I have been riding for about 3 years. I’m quite sedate but also quite experienced. I know i hit the top of the hill faster than i should have done and ended up going over the bars and landing on the downward slope.

I’m 100% sure that this bit of trail gives immense enjoyment to people with a better skill set than me so i wouldn’t advocate changing it. However, if i’m not the first (and i’d be massively surprised if i was) then perhaps there needs to be some sort of warning sign to prevent more incidents.

I suppose that wont happen if I (and others) say nothing but at the risk of rambling, i’d equally hate the enjoyment of others be spoiled.

If it was something that just happened rather than something actually dangerous in the park then you’re doing the right thing by not reporting it. Telling the council will most likely make them feel they have to do something about it when in reality that would be pointless.

I broke my knee at a skatepark in Liverpool. That was a result of ‘skateboarding being potentially dangerous and anybody attempting skateboarding might hurt themselves’. There’s no way I’d report it despite many people telling me I should sue the skatepark. Makes me sick that people would even consider it.