A less litigious society probably helps, what with not considering sand or wood chippings unsuitable to land on if you fall/jump off a swing,
Sand? Woodchips? Pshaw, when I was a kid, we had GRAVEL, and we LIKED IT! (It was much more handy for throwing at other kids than sand or woodchips).
jungle gyms still around in playgrounds last I saw, and atleast when I left school (7 years ago)
Sometime around 2000 or 2001'ish, a teacher sued the schools to remove all of the see-saws because
he was dumb enough to get his arm busted while screwing around on one. Unfortunately, he won.
Luckily, I was already in high school, so it didn't really effect me, but it was kind of sad.