Helmets will not be made compulsory
Thursday December 17, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

It is a story that has been slightly whipped up by the media as they raise the subject of whether ski helmets should be made compulsory across the mountains.

In fact it has never, so far, been a realistic proposition for everyone to be made to wear a helmet by law, even though some politicians have championed the cause.

Italy though was the first country to make it compulsory for children and in general terms there is more safety legislation in Italy than other Alpine countries.

See this related story that contains information about off piste safety rules in Italy.

It became a subject of some debate last winter after the death of the actress Natasha Richardson in Canada and the death of a woman in Austria who was hit by the German politician, Dieter Althaus.

Helmet sales shot up.

Almost every child wears oneNow though the Tyrol region in Austria has said it will not make the wearing of helmets compulsory for everyone, as we reported here, and Switzerland has also said this month that it is also against compulsion.

The Swiss Council for the Prevention of Accidents has said that forcing people to wear one would be counter-productive.

It says helmet use is growing sharply anyway with 63% of adults wearing one and 97% of children.

5 years ago only 16% of adults wore a helmet.

It is now cool and thoroughly accepted to wear a helmet. It wasn't just a few years ago.

"I have actually been wearing a helmet for quite a while but 6 years ago when working as a ski instructor the director of the ski school preferred me not to wear a helmet when teaching as it sent the wrong message," says the PlanetSKI content editor, James Cove.

"In those days if you wore a helmet it was thought you were about to go and jump off a cliff and do crazy things and it was perceived to be intimidating to clients. Now we are all encouraged to wear one. Times change I guess."

In Switzerland alone 17,000 people suffer head injuries after an accident on the ski slopes.

Italy and large parts of Austria do though make it compulsory for children to wear a ski helmet and the responsibility for them doing so lies with the parents. Italy passed the law back in 2005 and parents can be fined up to £100.

However more children reportedly wear a helmet in Switzerland, where it is not compulsory, than in Italy, where it is.

Many ski schools across the Alps also ensure every child wears a ski helmet while having lessons.

It is believed a helmet can prevent around 3/4s of all head injuries and various studies are on-going to assess their safety effectiveness.

See the PlanetSKI video interview below that we made with British skier, Mervyn Fletcher, last season. He had just bought and worn a helmet for the first time.

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