The provincial government introduced legislation Monday to make helmets mandatory for riders who use ATVs, snowmobiles, dirt bikes and other off-highway vehicles on public land.
Transportation Minister Brian Mason is proposing the changes to the Traffic Safety Act that would require riders to wear helmets before hitting the trails.
Alberta is one of the last Canadian jurisdictions to implement a helmet law for ATV riders.
The proposal comes after Mason announced Alberta’s intention to review current safety laws last June, three days after a 12-year-old boy was killed in an ATV rollover in the McLean Creek area southwest of Calgary
The government said it consulted with Albertans on how to improve safety for people riding off-highway vehicles. A total of 2,200 Albertans responded, with 65 per cent saying helmets should be mandatory.
“For years, Albertans have been asking their government to take action to reduce the unnecessary injuries and deaths caused by head injuries on OHVs,” Mason said in a media release. “If passed, the proposed amendments to the Traffic Safety Act would help prevent injuries and keep families safe and whole.”
If the amendment passes, helmets would not be required for farm and ranch work. The proposed amendments would not require helmets on private property or on First Nations and Métis settlement lands. They would also allow for regulations to define future exemptions to the amendment.
According to the Alberta government, off-highway vehicle riders account for almost 6,000 emergency room visits each year.
A total of 185 people were killed while riding ATVs in Alberta between 2002 and 2013. Almost 80 per cent of those fatalities involved people who were not wearing helmets.
“Helmets are the first piece of safety equipment we strongly recommend to our users,” Brent Hodgson, president of the Alberta Off-Highway Vehicle Association, said in a news release.
“We applaud the government for introducing these amendments and hope to see the proposed helmet legislation become law in Alberta.”