Italian police chief calls for ban on drunken skiing

A snowHead

A specialised Alpine Italian police chief is calling for drunken skiing to be prosecuted as seriously as drink-driving.

This report from BBC Online.

Interestingly, the article also points out that Italian law now enforces the use of transceivers when skiing off-piste (first time I've heard of that). The enforcement of helmets for children skiing in Italy was widely publicised a few months ago. There are also calls for snowboarding to be segregated from skiing in Italy, though this is proving particularly controversial.

The general concern in Italy seems to be a rising number of deaths on the mountains. So, are they taking the right approach in bringing the law to the slopes?

A snowHead

I love stories like that with captioned pictures, under the picture it says skiers and boarders critisised for going off piste, it says no such thing in the story, only that they are now required to take tracking equipment (I guess they mean avalanche transcivers) with them, likewise the police chief doesn't seem to mind skiers having a drink or two at lunch but does object to a minority of idiots aving a shot of spirits after every run !

As with all things one has to read the story first and once again a minority of irresponsible idiots are spoiling things for everyone else, I'm still certain that much of this behaviour is down to the way people learn to ski today and what they are taught in their lessons, little if any time these days seems to be sspent on teaching basic safety e.g skiers code and similar information.

The vast majority of people would obey the rules if they had been taught them in th esame way that the vast majority of people don't drive cars on a public road in a dangerous manner because they have taken or are studying for their driving test, of course there will always be bad or illegal drivers and th esame goes for skiers but if the majority of people were given a bit more basic safety instruction perhaps less accidents would occur

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

They've had a safety campaign in Les Arcs this season, but it must be pretty low profile - I've only just heard of it. Apparently a few resort employees are scouring the pistes to hand out "caught in the act" tickets - to people guilty of exemplary behaviour on the pistes! Prizes awarded, that sort of thing. Still, at least it's a move in the right direction.

Hear hear on the safety instruction DG Orf.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

D G Orf, I agree completely here. As I've said before, it's my belief that one of the reasons snow boarders get such a bad wrap is that, where once learning to ski meant ski school was taken for granted as part of the process, the culture around snowboarding eschews such regimen and initiates are more likely to learn 'by trying to keep up' with their mates.
Even if instructors do not as diligently impart mountain-craft knowledge as they used to, they're still likely to treat the matter more seriously than yer typical Duuuude mate from work who's sooooo cool at boarding.

Help!!

Italian police chief calls for ban on drunken skiing

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