Should helmets be manditory?

[Guest wally sipes]

i was saying, what if! there is only one word for not wearing a brain bucket, stupiddumbass*******. i don't think it should be mandatory by law to wear a helment, just a sign around neck saying, i am stupid! how would one of you *******s feel if you had a mishap and hit a child, or anyone, and they were killed from a head injury which could have been prevented IF THEY WERE A WEARING F@#$@#$@ brain bucket.

[philfell]

Wally sorry, I missed the "what if" part of your post. Calm down on the swearing. If a child is killed in an accident, and the injury could have been prevented if the kid was wearing a helmet, I'd put that blam on the parent. As for wearing a helmet or not, I have the same feelings a Jack it's the level of acceptable risk you are willing to take. Everyone level of comfort is different. For me when I'm out cruising groomer I don't wear a helmet, I ride well within my ability, and am constantly aware of EVERY person around me, I always leave an escape route. When I raced and the events started to go to all parrell events I always rode with a helmet, two riders riding at their limits 8-12 meters away from eachother, with 180 cm of sharpened metal straped to their feet. This was a risk too high for my comfort so I put on a helmet. When I riding on powder days I always wear my helmet for two reasons. One I mostly ride steep trees and have had some close calls, and two I've lost too many pairs of goggles from rag dolling, the strap on my helmet prevents this. Calling someone a stupiddumbass because they choose not to wear a helmet is not very polite. Based on the number of people who go through ski patrol everyday, someone who dosen't ski/snowboard could make a good case in calling you a stupiddumbass for just going to the resort, but we all know that isn't very fair.

Personally I think the current trend in helmets are making the slopes more dangerous, not less. I'm constantly passing people on the slopes who have their helmets wired to their ipods. These people have no clue I'm next to them and they can't hear me when I mention on you left/right or on your toeside/heelside.

[Baka Dasai]

All this blind faith in the effectiveness of helmets! As I said before, mandatory helmet laws for bicycles have had a negative effect on overall health and safety in the countries where they have been implemented.

Here's a little scenario:

Imagine helmets were mandatory. Each resort would have a large helmet rental business, and a large proportion of people would be using ill-fitting, possibly faulty helmets, with loose or untied straps, and wearing them at jaunty angles on their head to show off. Doing this is more dangerous than not wearing a helmet at all, and would be exacerbated by the helmet wearer's risk compensation (ie, they would take more risks to compensate for the perceived extra safety of the helmet).

So I can see that a mandatory helmet law would actually increase the rate of injury!

If people are serious about reducing injury from skiing and snowboarding, they'd be looking at things like reducing alcohol consumption on the slopes and increasing the level of education regarding the responsibility code. Promoting helmet usage would be very low down the list, and mandating helmet usage shouldn't even be on the list until there was some good evidence that it was effective.

[philfell]

I like Baka's thoughts. When I'm out skiing/snowboarding (yes I ski too) I don't see very many injuries that could be prevented due to the use of helmets. I see a lot of other injuries though. To me, if you wanted to make the mountain safer, it makes more sense to make people take some sort of a mt. ediquate class before you were allowed to buy a lift ticket. Take a test on the responsibilty code, potential dangerious situations that could be encountered on the snow. I think this would have more of an impact than helmet mandation.

[kipstar]

>>wearing them at jaunty angles

well, i DO like this idea for a helmet.

Wally Snipes: be careful what you are accusing people of who don't wear a helmet. How would you feel if you hit a kid, and killed them with your fancy helmet? Check out the injuries of American Football vs. rugby - aside from the fact that AMfootballers don't know how to tackle properly (joke) a fair few of the injuries are cause by a rock hard piece of plastic colliding with the soft flesh of a person. Besides which your little story is asking me to take responsibility for ensuring some kid I don't know and collide with is wearing a helmet.... you are totally confusing!

For many people like myself, I ride within my ability, I know what is going on around me, and I choose not to be a moron. Judging by a fair few of the people (both helmeted and non-helmeted) that bomb green/blue/black trails with skant regard for anyone around them, I would say I am far less likely to cause an injury to myself or anyone else. With or without a helmet.

There are several other areas which are far more critical in reducing injury which no one seems to be mentioning, because many think that a helmet is a big issue:

- riders not being complete tossers in crowded areas and causing injuries to others with reckless behaviour

- education and maintenance of the park to prevent dangerous jumping behaviour

- restrictions on the number of people on runs, and compatible riding styles and levels (e.g. limiting ticket sales)

- preventing knee injuries

- stretching and prevention through fitness

- teaching carvers to friggin look slightly uphill when turning at right angles across runs

- riders not smoking it up or getting drunk

Until someone can show me the levels of injury caused to head vs. knees etc; and then show me that:

- head injuries are a significant injury risk to people not in the park and therefore I am moderately likely to suffer from one

- that a head injury is significantly damaging to me (e.g. brain damage etc; I've had several concussions from boxing and that's no problem) or others

- that head injuries are significantly reduced using a helmet

- that wearing a helmet will not increase my likelihood of suffering a head injury through worse vision, aliens, etc

- that the ROI on a helmet outweighs other measures (wearing a brace on my knees, wrist guards, new bindings, other lame measures)

then I might consider it. The survey above is a sample size of well under 100, and the number of the subset using a helmet is 17; I would not consider using research like this for a market research on some aspect of advertising, let alone making a decision regarding investing a significant amount of money on something of what seems to me to be questionable benefit to me.

I do not buy the "well I am better off from wearing one, so you should be too" argument. The logical extreme of this is that someone who sits around and doesn't snowboard is least likely to suffer a head injury on the snow, and therefore I should do like them.

There is a risk/return element to most aspects of sports, and until someone can demonstrate that there is a significant risk I am incurring by not wearing a helmet, that would be prevented by wearing a helmet, then I choose to stay in a wool hat.

For a country based on freedoms, it amazes me that in almost every thread about personal freedom, there is an ongoing accusation that people need to be protected from themselves with laws of questionable benefit.

Kip

[Guest wally sipes]

sorry for the name calling, you guys are right when you speak of ridding in your abillity. sad to say but i did hit a four year old boy a few years. it was the parents fault. he was sent straight across the hill from the trees on the bottom side of a ridge. the slope was very clear of people, i pop over the ridge and bam. i twisted at yhe last second but my quad nailed his helment. he was very shaken and had a very red side of a face. i had a large goose egg on my quad. i got lucky. the boy was fine. the parent would not talk at all. i think they knew it was there fault. i think overall most crashes develope from not thinking and looking. ride safe!

[slopetool]

At the speeds we are going its so smart to wear some sort of head protection. And the only reason to take it off is for the Safety Meeting!

[Neil Gendzwill]

Originally posted by wally sipes

sorry for the name calling, you guys are right when you speak of ridding in your abillity. sad to say but i did hit a four year old boy a few years. it was the parents fault. he was sent straight across the hill from the trees on the bottom side of a ridge. the slope was very clear of people, i pop over the ridge and bam. i twisted at yhe last second but my quad nailed his helment. he was very shaken and had a very red side of a face. i had a large goose egg on my quad. i got lucky. the boy was fine. the parent would not talk at all. i think they knew it was there fault. i think overall most crashes develope from not thinking and looking. ride safe!

Wally, that one would be your fault. You're the uphill rider, you came over a blind ridge out of control. No excuse.

[Al G]

I have boarded across several continents this year and have to say that the only country in which I wore a helmet was the USA. This was primarily because of the greater opportunity for tree-line boarding, and also because of the dangerous objects that the resort companies in the USA don't appear to bother signposting or guarding - trees, lift pylons, bridges, intersections, all without adequate fencing and protective padding. Combining the two makes a helmet a necessity.

In Europe and NZ the piste is much safer, and to be honest I wouldn't dream of wearing a helmet in France and Italy - How can one be Euro-cool when wearing a helmet is the equivalent of shouting 'I'm American'! ;)

Al G