Just because he can, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz has reintroduced a piece of legislation (AB 1059) which would require skiers to wear protective helmets when skiing in New York State.
This bill comes on the heel of previous bills that are aimed at saving New Yorkers from themselves.
But that's not all, because people of the state are small children, Ortiz covered his bases by requiring ski resorts to make helmets available for rental and purchase as well as educational information regarding ski accident injury.
The recent death at Windham Mountain was responsible for reinvigorating Ortiz's conviction about this issue (and possibly providing political capital).
“This young woman’s death is one of many that could have been prevented by the use of a protective helmet. Her unfortunate death is a tragedy that should have never occurred. I am hopeful that my bill, A.1059, will pass during this 2011 legislative session,” stated Ortiz.
There is no indication whether Ortiz will push to eliminate downhill skiing for the much safer cross country skiing. Additionally, sledding is still legal in most of the state.
There are approximately 300million people living in the united states. On average 40.6 people have died per year in the United States from a skiing injury(.00000014% of the population). I am glad that our tax dollars are going to such a pressing issue that effects such a high number of people. It is politicians wasting time on stuff like this that causes NY to go bankrupt.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.firsttracksonline.com/News/2011/1/18/NY-Ski-Resort-Sees-First-Death-in-15-Years/