TY - JOUR T1 - Is ski helmet legislation more effective than education? JF - British Journal of Sports Medicine JO - Br J Sports Med SP - 1091 LP - 1092 DO - 10.1136/bjsports-2012-091374 VL - 46 IS - 16 AU - Gerhard Ruedl AU - Martin Kopp AU - Martin Burtscher Y1 - 2012/12/01 UR - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/46/16/1091.abstract N2 - Annually, several hundred million people worldwide enjoy alpine skiing and snowboarding.1 Besides the well-known beneficial effects related to exercise, these snow sports are also associated with a certain risk of injury. Head injuries account for 9–19% of all winter sport injuries reported by ski patrols and emergency departments.1 ,2 However, the use of ski helmets has been shown to reduce the head injury risk up to 60% among children and adults.1 ,2 While in recent years ski helmet use has become mandatory for children in Italy and in most Austrian provinces,3 ,4 the worldwide first mandatory ski helmets for all ages was introduced in Nova Scotia (East Canada) in 2011.5 Although over the last 10 years ski helmet use has steadily increased worldwide, for example, up to 70% in Canada, Austria and Switzerland in 2010,4 ,5  there is an ongoing debate in various countries about the introduction of mandatory ski helmets.4 ,6 Therefore, question arises as to whether ski helmet legislation is more effective regarding an increasing helmet use than education. To our knowledge, only one study has investigated the impact of mandatory ski helmets on … ER -