Parade Safety Reminder

Parades are part of what brings our Minnesota communities together. Whether your city is celebrating with a 4th of July parade or any other city-specific parade, the best parade is fun, safe, and inclusive. Unfortunately, accidents still occur as illustrated below:

July 8, 2017

Trailer runs over child during parade in central Minnesota

The patrol said a pickup, driven by a parade participant, was towing a trailer as part of the parade on the highway, also known as Main Street, and had stopped while children were picking up candy near the vehicle. The pickup began moving again when a passenger in the truck, saw a child under the rear tire of the trailer.

The vehicle backed up off the child and emergency responders were immediately on the scene. The 7 year old injured child was then air-lifted to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

A favorite component of a parade is the distribution of candy, prizes, and flyers. Traditionally, these items are thrown from vehicles. The problem is the combination of excited children and large vehicles/trailers with poor visibility can lead to tragedy as the example illustrates. The solution is to have walkers handing out these items. This will reduce the temptation for children to go near the parade vehicles. Implementing this rule, and reminding participates of its importance, will help to prevent this type on tragedy!

For more information on Parade Safety please see Section VIII-D of our Parks & Recreation Loss Control Guide.

By: Joe Ingebrand