Ottawa ponders new rules for youth who use city recreational facilities
Ottawa kids may soon be required to wear helmets at the city’s skate parks, toboggan hills and arenas. City staff were directed to draft a bylaw that would make protective headgear mandatory at municipal sports and recreation facilities to reduce the risk of brain injury. According to Dr. Michael Vassilyadi, a neurosurgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, 14 per cent of hospitalizations in children aged one to 14 years is caused by accidental brain injury, which is also the leading cause of death in this age group. He says helmets can avoid or mitigate 60 per cent of these injuries.