Tim Gill, a researcher and writer on childhood, estimates that the rubbery surface that has become standard in most playgrounds constitutes up to 40 percent of the entire cost of the playground.40 Yet it’s unclear that these expensive KFC playgrounds play host to fewer accidents. David Ball, a professor of risk management at Middlesex University, has been unable to find any indication that injury rates are falling in these sanitized playgrounds in either the United States or the United Kingdom.
