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Do You Wear a Helmet For Snowsports?  

89 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you wear a helmet for snowsports?

    • Yes always
      53
    • Yes sometimes
      13
    • No
      23
  2. 2. Do you thnk they should be compulsory?

    • Yes
      10
    • Yes but only for school groups
      16
    • No
      63


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I think it´s logical to assume:

1) Beginners in their first/second season

2) Intermediates (by the beginners´own assessment that thy are) who are getting too confident and pushing to ... getting out of control

Would be the high injury risk groups.

Well, nothing wrong with pushing it btw ;)

 

What should be informed to people is the type of injury that you are likely to sustain, and what one can do to reduce the risks.

Snowboarders are likely to get wrist injury. Skiers probably knee/ ankle injury. - is that a fair assessment ?

Basic right of way rules. etc.

I broke my wrist on the 12 day (first season) and my elbow on the 12 day of second season. In both occations at the hospital waiting, I saw a lot of similar injuries as stated above.

I had a wrist guard and still broke my wrist. Could have been worse without. When I did my elbow I forgot to wear an elbow guard. Left in the car.

Imo, skiing is easier for a beginner. Snowboarding, I´d put it in a category of extreme sports. You are more likely to die from a skydiving accident, but you are more likely to break something from snowboarding (in my case) :lol:

 

This Aussie snow industry bullshit is just focusing on helmet/ head injury and using it as a pubicity/marketing gimmick. Probably want to increase helmet sales.

How dare they claim they are educating people and in the same sentence say - people are dumb so we are deciding for their own good what is best for them.

This is insulting.

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To be honest, i think some of you are overplaying the disruption to a) your field of vision, and the lack of ambient sound by wearing a helmet. Lets forget that i wrote "non safety reasons whatsoeve

Wore my helmet yesterday and thankfully glad I did.   Was coming down the main slope on the east slope of joestu kokusai and a skiier came across and clattered in to me and I took a hefty tumble, hi

No one would or could argue that wearing a helmet is not a somewhat safer option could they? I honestly couldn't care less if people wear them for whatever reason they choose. I don't care if it makes

I'm all for it not being manditory as many of you, because it's your own decision about taking a certain amount of risk. I'm just wondering what alot of you people (maybe especially Americans, with the sueing-culture and all) would do if you get injured by something thats not in your own hands, think about a loose ski or something. Would you still try and make a case out of it if your injury couldve been prevented by wearing protective gear. I think you'd have to include stuff like this in the risk you're taking as well.

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I do not wear a helmet, but I do not really do anything that dangerous. I go off piste all the time, but I am more concerned with avalanches than things falling on my head or running into trees head first.

 

I think people who do park should consider wearing a helmet, or anybody who does half-pipe. I mean it is pretty dangerous and skateboarders who do half-pipe always wear a helmet.

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Tubby, I asked the same yesterday afternoon. It could also be asked that if you don't wear a helmet, can you sue them for not having a duty of care and forcing you when you don't know better? LOL

 

I do not believe that helmets should be mandatory, but I have no issues if it is.

 

I do as lot of taekwondo and kickboxing, and some years ago, there were 4 deaths in less than a year in taekwondo comps from head kicks - now head guards are compulsory in comps. I'm sure there isn't anywhere near enough statistical evidence to support this, but anecdotally it makes sense.

 

Bicycle helmets are now compulsory in Western Australia.

 

As far as I am concerned, unless there is good evidence to suggest that helmets actually increase the risk of injury, then I am happy to wear one.

 

I do believe there are still some rednecks in the USA who refuse to wear seatbelts....

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I haven't worn a helmet since my mother stopped making me when I was a kid, however after a few close encounters with trees while off piste last season am thinking of getting one this year.

 

Does your head get hot under them? Probably won't be a problem in Japan, but if I somehow find myself on the Australian slopes again (god forbid) I could imagine it getting pretty hot under there...

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My head has never got hot.

 

Although I have never been to OZ in saying that as long as your moving even with a Motorcycle helmet on 40deg you are ok.

 

Seemore

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We both were helmets, here is OZ plus 2 trips to Canada and and 5 to Japan. Even in the tropical OZ winter, my head has never been hot, plenty of vents.

 

The benifit for Dave is protecting his solar panels in his old age :lol:

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I started wearing one when my kids started to ski as I wanted them to wear one. More concerned about them getting hit after they had hit the ground as I had never used one. Then the only doctor that I ski with started to wear a helmet and now a helmet is just part of the gear - bonus is it keeps your head warm but not too hot plus when you miss judge a tree branch they help.

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Wearing helmets is rreal cool. I have a real cool one that also keeps my head warm.

 

I recently bought a PLA jetfighter pilot helmet with the dual visors and oxygen mask. It also has earphones and a mic. Not sure if I can take it to Japan though.

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I personally don't agree with blanket mandatory wearing but this article make you think:-

 

Industry spokesperson Ms Julie Gourd said that the Australian snow sport industry was "excited about leading the world in this measure in a duty of care action for our customer base".

When asked if they were expecting much backlash from patrons over this action Ms Gourd replied that she felt "the Australian public is responsible and mature enough to realise that this if for their own good." Ms Gourd also denied that it was the actions of a "nanny state mindset" claiming that it was "no such thing, rather a responsible action by a responsible industry".

 

 

This is the kind of mentality I really detest. People like this is really dangerous. This kind of attitude leads to benevolent dictatorship . We cannot afford to have these kind of people in government, religion, industry ...

I said in the past, I don´t mind a bit of nannying. Nanny is not mommy, and I say mind your own business.

 

What´s it with Australia and NZ, where a small group of people claims they are THE industry

I´d like to see them banning alcohol sale and breathalyzing people :stir:

 

But then again, who wants to go on-piste in Australia. Bugger them.

Really....did none of you think this was a tad suspicious and look at the date?

It was an April Fools Joke.

Aye! <shakes her head...in which brain function has been preserved due to wearing a helmet by choice>

 

 

I voted yes always, despite once on a hot spring Aussie day trying it without a helmet. I wont likely do it again.

I also voted that it should not be made compulsory. That is personal choice.

 

As for my kids. Yep, compulsory...because I say so, and I am paying fr the ski trip, gear, lift tickets etc.

My now 18yr old stopped wearing a helmet when he did almost the season in Niseko last year....he paid for it, he was living alone and he was learning to be a snowboard instructor. Now qualified I kinda think it is up to him to choose for himself. The 14 yr old would do anything to leave the skid lid at home, but until he is paying for his own trip, 18yrs old, or a qualified instructor...he can just forget that!

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Yes

Yes (at least for kids)

 

As I said in another thread 'It won't make it safe. but it will make it safer'

I used to rock climb and I heard so many stories where minor Injury have turned into major ones because the climber (or at the very least belayer was not wearing a helmet)

but that is just my two cents.

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As I said in another thread 'It won't make it safe. but it will make it safer'

 

But so what? This is the crux of the nanny state way of thinking in my opinion. The idea that we should always try and make things safer and safer and safer. Well some of us just aren't interested in always being that safe or feel that the safer options out there detract from the experience we are looking for. The point is not whether you want to take a safer option yourself, the point is whether you then start enforcing your ideals of safety on others. I used to rock climb as well and had a good friend end up with brain damage that probably would have been avoided had she wore a helmet. Did it make me think I should always wear a helmet? Not at all.

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the government thinking is that if it will improve safety, it will reduce the cost burden on society for hospitals etc.

 

However, snow sports are a much smaller activity than say driving cars, so they focus and really pus car safety, whereas injuries from snowsports is still a relatively small cost to society

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if thats the government thinking then why do they not ban the use of Trans-fatty acids and hydrogenated fats in food products?? these are 2 of the biggest causes of coronary disease in the developed world, they are in a lot of everyday products as I think they are preservatives, another big one is High Fructose Corn Syrup.......something that is in absolutely everything, they have no nutritional value and are known to be huge factor is the west7s increasing obesity rate......if they truly wanted to make their population safer and cut hospital costs, then its this type of action that would do it, not making a small percentage of their population wear helmets when out riding snow

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TB I follow your reasoning on getting rid of Trans-fatty acids, High fructose corn syrup etc but.......................................................please don't cut the cheese :naughty:

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Took a serious tumble on friday on the skyline in nozawa. Caught my edge as i was transitioning to my toe edge. I was going full pelt at the time so went flying head first backwards and smacked my head really badly on the ground (came to a stop right at the SLOW sign which was a nice bit of cosmic humour). Im honestly glad i had a helmet for that one, it was easily the heaviest hit ive taken as far as my head goes. Would have definitely knocked me out for sure and possibly been a fracture or worse. It was a very very heavy hit. :)

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