As the winter season continues, the (sadly inevitable) new of deaths on the slopes have begun to be reported. With an overall risk of 1 death per 1.85 million visits or so, the USA usually sees about 35 traumatic deaths per season. Just recently, a couple of the incidents in Europe have involved politicians, and rightly or wrongly any issue always seems to attain more importance when "important" people are involved. A recent incident in Austria is a case in point where two skiers collided - one being a mother of four and the other a German politician. The latter was wearing a helmet and survived (albeit wiht serious injuries) whereas the mother who was not wearing a helmet died. Full story here. It is reported in the story that the guy only survived because he was wearing a helmet and a subsequent poll of Austrians has suggested that almost 50% support a law mandating the wearing of helmets.
Let me say right away that I support the use of helmets and I wear one myself - I've never (touch wood) had a serious accident but there is no doubt that it has saved me from many minor/moderate impacts over the years. I wish I could say with absoluyte confidence that it would also save me if/when I do have a big impact. Unfortunately, the evidence would still seem to suggest otherwise. Cleverer people than myself (engineers and fellow epidemiologists) have done fairly conclusive work to demonstrate that that - in general - wearing a helmet does not make you invincible. If you hit a solid object at the average speed of an intermediate skier (about 22mph or so), no currently available helmet it seems will be able to mitigate against disaster. And yet we also find that those who wear helmets are more likely to ski or board fast, take risks and indeed be injured in general. Implying that wearers may get a false sense of security from the fact they have their lid on. Helmet use has increased amongst the general snow sports population from about 5-10% a few years ago to 30-40% more recently. And yet we have not seen a concordant reduction in the relative number of deaths on the slopes as one might expect.
You also have to remember in addition that the absolute risk of a serious head injury as a result of recreational snow sports is really very low. Personally, I recommend wearing a helmet at all ages because there are few if any downsides - those that are frequently touted (may injure the neck, impair hearing etc etc) have all been shown to be myths. My children will wear a helmet in years to come, my colleagues on the ski patrol wear a helmet, my friends wear a helmet - but i still don't think it should be made compulsory for all. Others disagree and indeed we may see some countries in Europe pass laws on this soon - Italy and Austria seem to be prime candidates. I won't be shouting loudly against them, but I sadly suspect in time we won't see a reduction in the death rates on the slopes. Skiing and boarding within the limits of one's ability level are still the best way to protect yourself and those around you.
Stay Safe on that Snow
Mike
Let me say right away that I support the use of helmets and I wear one myself - I've never (touch wood) had a serious accident but there is no doubt that it has saved me from many minor/moderate impacts over the years. I wish I could say with absoluyte confidence that it would also save me if/when I do have a big impact. Unfortunately, the evidence would still seem to suggest otherwise. Cleverer people than myself (engineers and fellow epidemiologists) have done fairly conclusive work to demonstrate that that - in general - wearing a helmet does not make you invincible. If you hit a solid object at the average speed of an intermediate skier (about 22mph or so), no currently available helmet it seems will be able to mitigate against disaster. And yet we also find that those who wear helmets are more likely to ski or board fast, take risks and indeed be injured in general. Implying that wearers may get a false sense of security from the fact they have their lid on. Helmet use has increased amongst the general snow sports population from about 5-10% a few years ago to 30-40% more recently. And yet we have not seen a concordant reduction in the relative number of deaths on the slopes as one might expect.
You also have to remember in addition that the absolute risk of a serious head injury as a result of recreational snow sports is really very low. Personally, I recommend wearing a helmet at all ages because there are few if any downsides - those that are frequently touted (may injure the neck, impair hearing etc etc) have all been shown to be myths. My children will wear a helmet in years to come, my colleagues on the ski patrol wear a helmet, my friends wear a helmet - but i still don't think it should be made compulsory for all. Others disagree and indeed we may see some countries in Europe pass laws on this soon - Italy and Austria seem to be prime candidates. I won't be shouting loudly against them, but I sadly suspect in time we won't see a reduction in the death rates on the slopes. Skiing and boarding within the limits of one's ability level are still the best way to protect yourself and those around you.
Stay Safe on that Snow
Mike
1 comment:
The fact that serious injuries or deaths are avoided by helmet use is never recorded but I bet if you interview ski patrols they will support this in every case. This probably happens all day long.
The reason that 35% of people killed were wearing helmets is because for a select few ... helmets make them feel invincible and they are willing to try anything when wearing one. However that still places 2/3 deaths with people not wearing helmets.
What we need to know is ... in how many cases did wearing a helmet contribute to the death of the person wearing the helmet? I bet none of them. That would lead one to believe that wearing a helmet is definitely a smart thing to do ... because in most cases it will avoid more serious injury. Obviously if you hit a tree hard enough or drop off in the wrong spot ... nothing will save you. This is the case for almost any sport including hockey, football, motorcycle racing and mountain biking.
I think it is crazy that we are still having this dialogue about whether or not it makes sense to wear a helmet. The logic that you might hurt someone else with your helmet is unproven ... how do we know in every one of those cases that being hit with the persons skull wouldn't have had the same result?
Am I missing something? I ride motorcycles and I remember hearing that riders were having this same discussion back in the 70s about helmet use. Would anyone think wearing no helmet on a motorcycle is a good idea? I haven't heard anyone say that ... and I have ridden with some pretty crazy stunt riders.
I support helmets being mandatory for kids under 16 at minimum. Complain about "the man" ruining your freedom until you are blue in the face. At least you still have the freedom of a working brain.
- Phil.
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