A lawsuit waiting to happen

[MadMike]

I walked right thru a freshly mopped spot at the mall (not intentionally, I didn't see it and there were no signs), and almost fell right on my ass. At the last instant, I managed to regain my balance and was OK.

Two seconds after my spectacular near-wipeout, the guy comes along with the "wet floor" sign.

[myswtghst]

That is one lesson I learned from years of figure skating, was how to fall down. I had lots of practice during those years.

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

My mom almost broke her wrists because of an icy parking lot. Luckily, she was holding groceries & kept holding them, instead of trying to catch herself. She's old enough that brittle bones is a concern, despite her overall 'good for her age' health.

While I was in college we had a sleet storm followed by freezing rain. Result: layer of balls of sleet, not quite like snow, under a layer of 1/2-1" ice. My favorite 'non-slip' footwear was my pair of 1" heel boots with the metal taps. The taps broke through the ice & the heels would lodge, enabling me to walk without sliding.

[queenbb]

my mom has slipped and fallen on ice 2 times in the last 2 years and broke her wrist both times (same one)

once was at a gas station the other was at her place of work, yah she got paid and yes she was wearing shoes for walking in ice.

[Broomjockey]

I don't fall often, and I've never majorly injured myself. I think my most classic fall though had to be while I was on the bus...

I had a pair of sneakers that were fairly new, and don't grip well on wet surfaces (no clue why. Baffled me when I took a header on a wet metal grating). It was massively wet on the bus from all the melt off people's shoes. And the driver accelerated from a stop while I was in the middle of taking a step. All this combined to me skidding and then going down like a ton of bricks. Of course, I was only down for about 0.25 seconds, and shouted "I'm okay! I'm okay!" No one believed me and checked on me repeatedly. Buncha nice people on that bus

[Ironclad Alibi]

If you're going to be walking over a lot of icy surfaces, you might want to invest in some crampons (sp?)

They are basically cleated metal plates you can strap to the bottom of your shoes for added grip.

Be careful whenever you're walking on ice, even with crampons. Years ago I put a pair of crampons on my shoes and walked outside to the top of five steps going down to my driveway. The next thing I knew, I was flat on my back at the end of the driveway. Fortunately, I was not injured. Now the spikes on the crampons were somewhat dull, but still it pays to be careful on ice.