Car surfing on top of cars, ghost riding with no one behind the wheel and skitching riding a skateboard pulled by a moving vehicle-are a wide range of dangerous and potentially deadly activities catching fire with young people.
"An injury even at those slow speeds can result in significant neurologic disability and even death," CBS News quoted Alan R Cohen as saying.
According to a CDC report between 1990 and 2008, 58 people died in car surfing accidents alone. Another 41 were injured.
Injuries and deaths from ghost riding and skitching have never been counted, so the numbers are likely far worse.
"It feels like I'm in a dream," said Craig Doolittle, whose son died in a skitching accident.
"I can't believe this has happened," he said.
Doolittle's son Cody from Ojai, Calif., lost control of his skateboard after hitching a ride on the back of his friend's SUV in Aug.
"He pendulumed. The skateboard went forward and he just swung down and cracked his head open
"It's pretty traumatic seeing your own son in that kind of a demise.
"As a fireman we try to help people and to fix things, and I couldn't fix him," said Doolittle.
Caleb Potter, 28, from Cape Cod, Mass. was more fortunate. He survived his accident, but suffered severe injuries.
"It was a mess, a mother's nightmare," said Sharyn Lindsay, Potter's mother.
