Helmets compulsory for children in Austria
Sunday March 8, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

All under 16s are now required to wear a helmet following the change in the law that was voted through on January 22nd this year.  The law will remain until 2012 and it will be kept under review to see if it makes a difference.

People though will not be punished if they break the new law.  The politicians said they want to raise awareness of the importance of people wearing helmets when skiing and hope adults follow suit.

This year 29 people have died in Austria in snow related accidents.  7 have been from collisions.

The death of a 41-year old woman when she was hit by a German politician, Dieter Althaus, became a huge topic of conversation.  She was not wearing a ski helmet and he was.

This week Althaus was found guilty of manslaughter and fined 33,000 euros.

Safety comes firstParts of Italy already make it compulsory for children to wear ski helmets and many ski schools insist on helmets for children.

In Austria there are around 55,000 skiing and snowboarding injuries each winter season and 10% of these involve head injuries.

The growth in the number of injuries is put down to ever more crowded pistes with people simply going too fast and skiing out of control.

Here at PlanetSKI we have a view on people who ski out of control.

Check out the interview below we did earlier in the season with Mervyn Fletcher, a British skier who decided to buy a ski helmet.

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