Should helmets be compulsory?
Thursday February 5, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

Children in Italy have had to wear a helmet for many years.

Many ski schools insist on helmets for kids’ classes and now after the high speed accident in Austria involving a German politician,  Dieter Althaus who is the governor of the state of Thuringia, and a women who subsequently died it’s been made compulsory for children in Austria.

Increasingly popularThe newspapers in the Alps have been full of talk and debate recently about the advisability of wearing a helmet and some said they should be made compulsory for everyone.

If you have a view please fill in the comment form on the bottom of this story. We’d like to hear your views.

In our Ask PlanetSKI section our resident injury expert, the surgeon Jonathan Bell, says helmets do prevent injuries though head injuries are comparatively rare.

“Most injuries that occur in skiers and boarders are not serious and can be patched up. Serious head injuries are thankfully comparatively rare but are a significant cause of death and severe long-term disability. There is good evidence that even moderate head injuries can lead to some permanent disability,” Bell says.

“Since knocking myself out whilst skiing a few years ago I now use a ski helmet all the time and don't regret the switch - it is also easier to get my daughter to wear one if i do. What other sport that takes place at such speeds is carried out without a helmet?”

A third seem to wear a ski helmet in VerbierThis week we carried out a random survey on the lifts in Verbier and found about 30% of people now wearing one.

A report by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission found that head injured account for 14% of accidents and 56% of related deaths.  The organization says over half of people in the US now wear head protection.

FIS, the governing body of ski racing has made helmets compulsory and it backs a study by the Journal of the American medical Association that claims wearing a helmet can reduce head injuries by up to 60%.

One British skier in Verbier, Mervyn Fletcher, has just bought a helmet and in the video below explains his reasons for buying one.

However, many people are against compulsion and believe it is up to each individual to weight up the evidence and make their own mind up. 

Could be helpful in ski accidentPlanetSKI has been talking to many people this week on the slopes and the vast majority seem to think helmets are a good idea, even those not wearing one, but they are against being forced to wear one. It seems skiers and snowboarders do not want to be told what to do.

It is certainly not a new debate, with many ski chat forums filled with pages of views, but it is an issue that is not going to go away as the slopes become more crowded, people seem to ski faster and there's a growing awareness of some of the dangers of skiing and snowboarding.

Our content editor has strong views on people who ski or snowboard out of control.

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