Helmets for skateboarders

(Update)

The death of a Brantford teen over the weekend is leading to louder calls for mandatory helmet legislation for skateboarders. But even with the latest tragedy in the headlines — many young skaters still don’t want to wear a helmet.

Ten-year old Kayla Drassich has a message for her fellow skateboarders and it’s written clearly on her helmet for everyone to see: “Be safe and wear your helmets.”

She lost her cousin Daniel Kivell-Freeze, known as Felix to his friends, after the 15-year old lost control while skateboarding down a Brantford hill. He hit head and died of his injuries. Police say he wasn’t wearing a helmet.

It’s mandatory to wear a helmet while skateboarding in several provinces, but Ontario isn’t one of them. The majority of skateboarders here at Turner Park don’t wear a helmet, even after hearing about Daniel’s story.

Spencer Harley: “I don’t really think about it that often, so, it just doesn’t really come to mind.”

Isaiah Arnold: “We try not to think about it, as much as we want to. It just doesn’t cross our mind.”

Dylan Wolfe: “There’s like 50 kids here and none of them are wearing helmets and it happens maybe once every few years, there’s a really big incident.”

But this latest incident is bringing the issue of helmet safety to the forefront. The Ontario Safety League is pushing to make wearing helmets mandatory for activities with a safety risk, saying it could save more than people’s lives.

Brian Patterson is with the OSL: “Save millions, if not billions, in health care costs that are a result of not addressing this and have people undertake high risk activities and injuring themselves severely.”

but some skateboarders are getting the safety leagues’ and Kayla’s message loud and clear.

Joey Cantwell: “After that I was like man, I’m actually going to start wearing a helmet when I skate. Like I don’t want to be that guy passing away, like I have a family to care for.”

Michael Fedotov: “Your brain is the most important, so wear a helmet.”

A lesson any age can learn from.

When asked about whether wearing helmets while skateboarding should be mandatory, many of the kids said sure, but with an age limit, similar to bikes. But while it’s mandatory in Ontario for those 18-years and under to wear a bike helmet. The skateboarders here said making it mandatory for kids 13 and under to wear a helmet while skateboarding would be something they could get on board with. Mind you, the majority of those I spoke with were above 13.