Traci's mom recently approached us about getting a trampoline for Turner. Traci's reply was literally an immediate "No". I understand how dangerous they are, but I had one when I was a kid (one with no covers on the springs and no safety net) and I had a blast on it, so I wanted to consider it a bit longer.
Obviously, right now, Turner is too young to get much out of a trampoline. He loves bouncing on the couch and I doubt he'd catch much air on the trampoline anyways. Our concern is when he gets older and braver and tries to do tricks or flips or something. Even with all the safety features that trampolines have nowadays, the person bouncing is still propelling his or her body into the air and subjecting it to the empowering laws of physics.
I've discussed this a bit with some of my friends and I was surprised to find that quite a few of my friends personally know people who were injured on a trampoline; from broken bones (one kid broke both his ankles at the same time) to head injuries (another kid had staples in his head from a bad fall).
I received plenty of hits, knocks, and bumps in my experience with a trampoline. Fortunately, I never broke any bones or had a serious injury (the worst home-based injury I can remember was when a mule threw me and my dad out of the cart it was pulling). It's hard to argue for the safety of a trampoline. Ultimately, no one is every surprised if/when someone gets injured while jumping on a trampoline. No one.
Traci found this article in a magazine and cut it out for her mom, just as factual, numbers-based evidence of why Traci is so adamant against it. For me, it's more about what I'm likely to regret more; having one versus not having one. Feel free to leave a comment if you feel that Traci and I are out of line in our reasoning.