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Safety

INSANELY SUCCESSFUL:

SKI HELMET USE UP SIGNIFICANTLY

BY DAVE BYRD, NSAA DIRECTOR OF RISK & REGULATORY AFFAIRS

ACCORDING TO RECENT RESULTS from NSAA’s National passing a law in 2012), and there are only two ski areas in
Demographic Study, helmet use by skiers and snowboarders the state. Each year, some legislator in New York proposes
is up for the 15th consecutive year, a stunning safety suc- a ski helmet bill, but they always seem to languish in the
cess story for the skiing and riding public, and the entire state legislature. California Governor Jerry Brown famously
ski industry. vetoed a ski helmet bill passed overwhelmingly by that state’s
Statistics and interviews gathered for the Demographic legislature in 2011, stating that “not every human problem
Study show that overall helmet use across the US during the deserves a law.” But with such high usage rates in the ski
2017-18 season rose to 84 percent for all guests, up slightly industry, the need for nanny-state government meddling is
from the previous season’s 83 percent. In the 2002-03 sea- effectively moot—no sane legislator would waste time seek-
son, when NSAA first began tracking this data, helmet use ing to impose needless and ineffective mandates.
in the US was only 25 percent. Since 2002-03, ski helmet In fact, while many states have motorcycle helmet laws,
use has risen 242 percent in 16 years only 65 percent of motorcycle riders
of tracking. in the US wear helmets. In fact, even
More importantly, helmet use has ONE THING THAT IS within the bicycling industry, there
risen significantly with younger people. are not even national or state statis-
As of this season, 100 percent of chil- NOT LEADING TO tics for how many cyclists wear hel-
dren aged 9 and under—that’s right, INCREASED HELMET mets; no state agency, federal agency,
100 percent—were wearing helmets. USE IS GOVERNMENT or trade association within the biking
For all minors (17 and under), the hel- community knows how many cyclists
met usage rate was 95 percent overall, MANDATES REQUIRING wear helmets.
a finding that is especially important SKI HELMET USAGE. One other potential takeaway
because head injury prevention is crit- from NSAA’s strong ski helmet
ical to the health of a young person’s numbers: from an OSHA standpoint,
developing brain. On the other hand, those between the ages we have seen numerous ski areas receive fines due to lack of
of 18 and 24 remain the least likely to wear helmets, with helmet mandates as personal protective equipment (PPE)
only 76 percent of skiers in that age group wearing them. for on-mountain skiing and snowboarding employees and
Except for some die-hard holdouts (think aging ski lift mechanics.
bums) or on some warm-weather days of spring skiing, it’s The ski industry’s helmet stats are particularly impres-
increasingly rare to see guests without helmets. There are sive relative to other safety devices. For example, automobile
several reasons for such dramatic and sustained growth— seatbelt use in the Northeast region of the US is 83 per-
ski areas have made long made helmets a key part of their cent (despite state mandates requiring seatbelt use), while
safety messaging, as well as mandatory in ski lessons or ski helmet use in that same region is 89 percent. However,
races; resorts have teamed up with local medical profession- Canada still outpaces the US in national ski helmet use; 90
als to promote helmet use and free helmet giveaways; ski percent of Canadian skiers and snowboarders wear helmets.
accidents involving celebrities have focused media attention Boulder, Colorado-based RRC Associates prepares
on the issue; and, importantly, as kids wear helmets in nearly NSAA’s National Demographic Study, working with US ski
all other recreational sports, they are pushing their parents to areas and Guest Research, to conduct more than 120,000
follow their leads. guest interviews this season to obtain a wide variety of skier
But one thing that is not leading to increased helmet demographic information, including helmet use. The pub-
use is government mandates requiring ski helmet usage. lic can purchase NSAA’s 2018 National Demographic Study
Only New Jersey requires minors to wear ski helmets (since starting in August.

8 | NSAA JOURNAL | SUMMER 2018