Two California legislators introduced separate ski safety bills in the state assembly last week that would mandate children wear helmets. One bill, proposed by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, would require ski areas to publish reports on injuries and deaths, install padding system around lifts and other equipment and require minors and employees to wear helmets.
The California Ski Industry Association has said it will support a bill requiring children less than 18 years of age to wear a helmet. Those caught skiing without one would subject their parents to a $25 fine. Sponsors of that bill cited studies showing helmets can cut in half the risk of serious head injuries in children 15 and younger.
The debate over mandatory ski helmet laws has been brewing for years, but renewed with vigor last year following the death of actress Natasha Richardson in a ski accident at Mont Tremblant in Quebec. Even before Richardson’s death, a Canadian association of emergency doctors requested the provincial government mandate helmets to counter rising head injuries. Despite those efforts, the initiative appears to have little support in the National Assembly of Quebec, according to a December report by GlobalPost.com. That report cited studies estimating that 90% of children under 12 and 65% of teens and adults in Quebec already wear ski helmets. Ski resorts in Quebec have opposed a mandatory helmet law for fear it might alienate foreign guests.
In the meantime, Intrawest and other ski resort operators have begun to rent helmets and require them for children taking lessons on their slopes.
Aided in part by publicity over the skiing deaths of high profile celebrities Michael Kennedy, Sonny Bono and Richardson, ski helmets were among the fastest growing categories for snow sports gear in 2008. Increasingly hazardous snowboarding tricks and designs that incorporate music players, smartphones and seamlessly fit with goggles have helped spur sales.
