Taking the piste

BBC News reports that speed cameras are to be installed on some ski slopes in resorts in Switzerland due to the amount of accidents occurring on the slopes. (click to view report)

The state-controlled Swiss Accident Insurance (Suva), the country’s biggest provider of compulsory cover, has responded by introducing the speed controls as part of a safety campaign.

The article says that people enjoying themselves had no idea how fast they were going and were generally surprised at the speeds that they were attaining whilst on the piste. According to some sources, there were over 7,000 accidents on Swiss ski slopes last year.

The cameras were installed at the beginning of January in the resort of Andermatt and will be rolled out to the top resorts of St Moritz, Zermatt and Davos later in the season.

I don’t know why they don’t take really serious steps to stop people from having accidents and issue all skiers with huge rolls of bubble wrap. They could also insist that all skis be fitted with stabilisers to reduce the risk of falling over.

Better still why not ban the sport all together, that way there will be no accidents at all and the insurance companies can really stop worrying about paying out, but of course, that also means that there would be no-one paying in either. Oh well, you can’t make omelettes…