No Reduction In Average US Slope Death Numbers As More Wear Ski Helmets

A depressing run of sad stories from the slopes of Europe and North America over the Christmas period has seen at least half a dozen people die in accidents. At least half of those killed were wearing helmets.

In the most horrific accident, at a small ski hill on Wyoming, Hogadon, a 23 year old boarder crashed in to a mother and her five year old daughter at high speed on an icy black run. Both the snowboarder and the little girl, who was wearing a helmet, are dead.

The deaths of those wearing helmets may raise questions for those who argue that helmet wearing should be obligatory and a rare bit of research has been published by the NSAA (The National Ski Areas Association of the USA) which has found that while helmet wearing can be shown to have dramatically reduced injuries over the past decade, the number of deaths on the slopes on average in the US has held steady at around 40 per year, despite the increase in number of people wearing helmets.

Essentially the research found that while helmets did reduce the risk of injury in minor accidents, they were largely ineffective in the kind of accident most likely to cause a fatality, such as hitting a tree or rock at high speed.

The study found that injury rates from traditional injuries (such as twisted knees) has dropped dramatically due to improvements in bindings, shorter skis and helmet wearing.

Three-quarters of deaths were among males in their late teens or latter 40s who were of intermediate ability or above and traveling at high speed.

On the upside, skiing and boarding was found to have one of the lowest death rates of any sport, the 40 average death rate in the US compared to 900 deaths in the country from cycling and was about the same as playing tennis with chance of fatality less than one in a million.

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

Don't you just love stats. You need to know what has happened to the number of skiers and the number of accidents. If these have risen then the number of deaths remaining static represents an improvement.

I'm not planning to start wearing the helmet for skiing, not worth it for 7 weeks skiing a year. However,I don't like the incidence with tennis, and I play this for 46 weeks a year, so I might start wearing a helmet during doubles.

Bearing in mind Admin's post mentioned some tragic deaths, I find your response in bad taste, Mr Mac.

I have joked in the past regarding helmet wearing, and it is tragic that anyone should die whilst doing something they love as much as I love skiing.
Yes, accidents happen, and people can quote all the stats they want to. I choose not to wear a helmet.

But for one minute lets, please, think of those who have lost their lives and loved ones and stop making small jibes out of it.

Raw numbers don't tell the whole story.
Were more people skiing?
Were more skiing faster?

It would be interesting to know how many more (if any) would have died without helmets? Obviously that can only be guessed at.

I have to say I've bitten the bullet & got myself a helmet for the first time.

Wearing a ski helmet (or any helmet in my opinion) should be a personal choice. If I want to take the risk of not wearing one, that's my choice, I don't want someone dictating what I should or shouldn't wear.

Smokey Barr wrote:Wearing a ski helmet (or any helmet in my opinion) should be a personal choice. If I want to take the risk of not wearing one, that's my choice, I don't want someone dictating what I should or shouldn't wear.

Thats what I've been saying on here for ages, yet I still get told by come people that I am wrong and I SHOULD wear one :roll:

Vive Le Bobble

Smokey - I don't disagree with you re skiing - the risk of serious head injury skiing is not comparable to riding a motorbike or motor racing but is it fair to your family (& the state) to expect them to look after a nappy wearing 50 year old with the mental faculties of a 6 month old because they object to being made to wear a motor cycle helmet?

I don't have a problem with helmets (for motorcyclists)being made optional for those with insurance to fund life-long nursing care.