Let's Stop Betty Little and her Little Helmet Law

"Legislation sponsored by Senator Betty Little to improve skiing safety was advanced by the  Senate Judiciary Committee today.

Little is sponsoring a bill (S4356) that would require skiers and snowboarders under fourteen years of age to wear a protective helmet when skiing at New York ski areas.  The New York State Ski Industry supports the measure.

            “This is modeled after the bicycle helmet law,” said Little.  “Skiing is a relatively safe sport made safer by the use of a helmet.  More people are wearing helmets each year recognizing that a traumatic brain injury is life altering.  Requiring kids to wear a helmet is a reasonable and smart approach.”

            Little said ski areas would post signs at their information boards and on site locations where lift tickets are sold notifying guests of the law.  Lift tickets would also include language about the law and ski areas would need to maintain a reasonable inventory of helmets for sale or rent.

            A civil penalty not to exceed $50 would be waived by showing proof between the date of the violation and court appearance date that a helmet has been purchased.  The parent or guardian of the child not wearing a helmet would be issued the summons by local law enforcement.

            “This would give mom and dad some added authority by being able to say to their children that it’s the law, you can’t hit the slopes without your helmet.”          

http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/ski-safety-bill-advances-senate

At no point does this bill explain who will pay for the enforcement of the law nor does it say who issues the citations.
The law requires the ski area to maintain a "reasonable inventory of helmets".  

Who is going to pay for this?  The mountain is going to pass along their costs to us.  

A feel-good law with a high cost of enforcement?   Children first, then adults.  Betty, Betty, Betty, what are you doing to the ski industry in the North Country?

I wear a helmet. I like my helmet.  I do not want my choices legislated.

i happen to think this law is a good idea as long as it does not apply to adults

I don't think it is a bad idea, BUT

1. How are they going to enforce it?
and
2. What is the cost of enforcement?
and
3. Who is going to pay for enforcement?  Duh - we are!  
and
4. What additional liability will the ski resorts have?

When are people going to take responsibility for their actions?  

When are parents going to grow a backbone and take responsibility for their own children?  I don't want a Nanny State.


I choose to wear a helmet.

“This is modeled after the bicycle helmet law,”

We don't let our kids ride bikes, skateboards, scooters, atvs without helmets.....Yet Some People Let Their Kids Ski Without Helmets ?

Such a parent should be fined.

Oh this should be fun when the gondi line is across the base area, and the lift attendants are asking all of the teenagers
for ID...      

Darkside Shaman wrote

Oh this should be fun when the gondi line is across the base area, and the lift attendants are asking all of the teenagers
for ID...      

Exactly.

The last time I checked, you are not required to carry ID to ski.

I think the key is that enforcement will be very difficult. There's no way to hold the ski area operator responsible for enforcement. It's just not their job. So...enforcement is likely to be a matter of response to complaints. Perhaps complaints following an injury. There could be a precedent for requiring medical professionals to report in a manner similar to the requirement to report suspected abuse. Otherwise, police could begin spot checking ski areas (not very likely). Before this potential law gets to being enacted,it will be changed several times. It's quite typical for the legislators to present half baked legislation that is well meaning, but unenforceable. After some comments from constituents and trade groups, we'll see some refinements. Write letters and express your opinions to your elected officials.

They just passed this law in NJ (anyone under 18 has to wear a helmet).

I think it's crap.  I never wore a helmet as a kid and fine turned I out.

ski2moro wrote

... enforcement?

It all depends on who is actually responsible for enforcement. If it's a ski resort then it's an additional burden they don't need, it it falls on parents then nothing to worry about.

mattchuck2 wrote

 I never wore a helmet as a kid and fine turned I out.

Snicker, snicker.

They'll probably have to make it so if you're under 14, NO Helmet = NO Lift Ticket.

A predictable Nanny State development, not invented in NY.  Interestingly, Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar law in California last year.  

Snowballs wrote

They'll probably have to make it so if you're under 14, NO Helmet = NO Lift Ticket.

That sounds like a pretty good approach to me. From what I see, most kids who ski/ride today wear helmets, particularly those who ski/ride regularly and whose parents ski/ride.

I think kids who go skiing on a school trip, or something similar, are more likely to be the ones who don't wear a helmet ... the occasional skiers/riders. By using an approach like the one above, awareness would be raised and those kids would then have to wear one.

I know people, especially adults, don't like being TOLD what to do, but I think it's hard to argue that wearing a helmet is a good idea. It may not save you in every case, but I don't think it's going to hurt you either.

The seat belt law years ago was a similar case. When I first started driving, and when I was a kid, I never wore a seat belt. Once NY passed the seat belt law, I started to wear one. There wasn't any particular reason that I didn't wear one in the past, I just simply didn't do it. With the law in effect, I've become "programmed" to always wear one, and I make sure all of my passengers are always wearing one. If not for the law, I'd probably still be driving without it.

Sometimes I think we just need a little push to do the smart thing.

Two thumbs up for MichaelTokyo's video link.  

It's not about whether wearing a helmet is a good idea or not.

It's about whether it is a good law that can be enforced and at what cost.

Sounds like a great idea to me. Some of the critics should be transported back to the time of my childhood, when little kids rode around in the front seat of cars with metal dashboards and weren't required to wear seatbelts.

An easy way to enforce this is to clearly mark the lift ticket/pass, so the checking of IDs can be done at the purchase window. A different color would suffice. Helmets? Another source of revenue for the rental shop.

Benny Profane wrote

An easy way to enforce this is to clearly mark the lift ticket/pass,

that's a smart idea.  just print under 14 and if you aint wearing a helmet, you aint riding a lift.  

helmets help

New Jersey Becomes First State to Mandate Ski and Snowboard Helmets for Minors

by David B. Cronheim

Trenton, NJ - While the snow has melted from most of the nation's slopes, the ski season's most significant development may have just occurred in, of all places, New Jersey. On April 6, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law a bill which requires all children under the age of 18 to wear "securely fitted protective" helmets while skiing or snowboarding at any of the state's three ski resorts.

The law, which will take effect in time for the 2011-12 season, will supplement N.J.S.A. 5:13 (exact citation not yet available). It is the first of its kind in the nation and likely to become a model for future ski helmet laws.

Full Story on First Tracks!! Online Ski Magazine

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

"...a new law that says day campers face a "significant risk of injury" from traditional summer games including capture the flag, kickball and tag."

SERIOUSLY?

The article is a little unclear, but the fact that this kind of thing is being tossed around is nuts.

 

DARKSIDED wrote

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

"...a new law that says day campers face a "significant risk of injury" from traditional summer games including capture the flag, kickball and tag."

SERIOUSLY?
The article is a little unclear, but the fact that this kind of thing is being tossed around is nuts.

I almost made a thread about this in OT a few hours ago.

Update: Maybe not. "State Sen. Patricia Ritchie of Watertown wants the health commissioner to hold off on the expanded guidelines because she believes they'll put a staffing and fiscal burden on local recreation programs trying to comply with the law that took effect April 1."

That's why I didn't create the thread.

"]New York health officials pulled back a proposal that would have placed new regulations on classic kid games like tag and Wiffle Ball that officials deemed unsafe."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/04/19/classic-kids-playground-games-regulated-new-york/#ixzz1K18XKTeD