Travel Insurance company Essential Travel (essentialtravel.co.uk) has taken the on-going debate on helmet use to a new level by insisting that anyone taking out a ski travel insurance policy with them wear a helmet on the slopes, "skiers who do not wear a helmet will risk invalidating their policy," says a company statement.
Essential Travel say they came to their decision after determining that 77% of skiers and boarders now wear helmets on the slopes, an increase of 15% since a "Use Your Head" campaign to promote helmet wearing was launched in 2010.
A study of skiers and boarders by the company also found that 73% of respondents believed that skiers and boarders who did wear helmet deserved to be rewarded by insurance companies with reduced policy prices.
"Whilst it is true that a helmet does not reduce all sports injury, it seriously reduces the risk of potentially fatal injuries," said Essential Travel's Stuart Bensusan, "That alone warrants making wearing helmets compulsory and we chose to support safety conscious skiers by rewarding them with reduced premiums."
That reduced premium equates to a 15% discount, the company says. Essential Travel are also donating £1 for every new policy sold to brain injury charity Headway (headway.org.uk)