Alberta MLA who lost nephew calls for ATV helmet laws

Liberal MLA David Swann is calling on the province to make it mandatory for people who ride all-terrain vehicles to wear helmets.

Swann, the MLA for Calgary-Mountain View, has been personally impacted by the issue — his nephew was killed in an ATV crash near Bragg Creek on June 10.

A friend found the 23-year-old man dead in front of a tree with the ATV on top of him. He wasn't wearing a helmet.

"We are experiencing first-hand the devastation of that and knowing that he died largely from head injuries," Swann said.

A spate of recent ATV deaths — nine so far this season — has put the spotlight back on the province's lack of ATV safety laws. Alberta has no helmet laws and sets no minimum age for riders.

Transportation Minster Ric McIver said that he has no plans to introduce such legislation right now.

"If we decide to put legislation forward, it'll be based on evidence, and based on evidence that so far I haven't read," he said. "But I will read it."

But Swann wants McIver to take action now. He asks why the province mandates helmets for motorcycle riders, but not for people who use ATVs.

"I just implore him to look at the data, look at the evidence, look at all the other provinces that have implemented this regulation, and let us move forward as a province with regulations," Swann said.

Swann says that says 41 per cent of Alberta ATV deaths between 2002 and 2009 were the result of head injuries.

"Roughly two-thirds of those lives would have been saved, statistically, from a helmet."