ABOUT 1000 skateboarders a year are ending up in Queensland hospital emergency wards but nothing is being done to enforce the wearing of safety gear.

Under Queensland road rules, there is no legal requirement for skateboarders to wear helmets and a State Government campaign to promote their use has been scrapped.

The “stay pretty, wear a helmet” campaign by Queensland Transport was discontinued last year after failing to make a real difference.

Dr Ruth Barker from the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit said that only 10 per cent of skateboarders wore helmets despite evidence they could save lives.

Dr Barker said statistics gathered from hospital emergency rooms found one in 20 injuries suffered by skateboarders could be prevented or minimised by wearing a helmet.

“I don’t care about elbow pads and knee pads. If they just wore a helmet I’d be happy. Most of the other stuff is fixable, but when they hit their head they can die or suffer a serious brain injury and that’s a huge impost on our health system and families,” Dr Barker said.

The QISU research also found most skateboarding injuries occurred on roads, followed by skateparks, regular parks and footpaths.

“The potential for danger on the road is greater than at skatebowls because they can get up quite a bit of speed as they go down the road,” Dr Barker said.

But She said she was not convinced legislation was the answer.

“It’ll only save lives if it’s enforced and then is it only going to be if it’s on the roads?” Dr Barker said.

“What it needs is a sustained co-ordinated approach to continually engage kids and teach them why wearing a helmet is good, rather than putting the onus on police to enforce it on the roads.”

Brad Shaw, from the National Skateboarders Association of Australia, said convincing skateboarders to wear helmets was “an uphill battle”.

“The only time helmets are required (for skateboarders) is for competitions and even then it’s not always enforced,” Mr Shaw said.

“It’s something we know that it would be good to see just for safety reasons, but the skateboarding population just don’t want it. It’s too uncool.”

Two skateboarders, men aged 25 and 18, have died in accidents since 2006. Both were riding on the road and neither is believed to have been wearing a helmet.

Courtesy: Robyn Ironside

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25587421-23272,00.html