Helmets On The Slopes, Mandatory or Not?

This past week a well known celebrity, Natasha Richardson, died as a result of what seemed a slight head injury in Canada. It is unfortuante that it takes the death of a well known celebrity to shed light on the importance of skier safety. I remember when Sonny Bono died after a skiing accident, and the spotlight was put on skiier saftey for a while.

The media's hot topic over Natasha Richardson's death is whether helmets should be mandatory or not. My polictical leanings dictate that we can't legislate yet more control over our lives and freedoms. My personal side though is anyone who lets their children on the slopes without a helmet is a person acting negligently. If an adult chooses not to where a helmet that should be their free choice, but childen are often incapable of truly evaluating the risk they take when boarding or skiing without a helmet.

As the father of an ethusiastic 15 year old snowboarder, I can tell you that it is a constant struggle to make him wear his helmet, but this is my job, not the government's. I have found that many parents are simply not educated about the importance of helmets, which explains why we see so many kids without them. I have also discovered from working at ski shops, and from my wife who works at the ski school, that when you educate parents about helmets they immediately adopt a family helmet policy.

In closing, I want to stress the fact that skiing truly is a safe sport and great family activity. To see for yourself just how safe it is and get actual statistical data read this article www.ski-injury.com.

Kyle.

PS: If your children snowboard you should also know wristguards are very important.