Victoria, BC – The death of a Brazilian exchange student on Grouse Mountain near Vancouver in 2013 has prompted the British Columbia Coroner’s Service to call for mandatory ski helmet use throughout the province.

“Though it remains unclear if the use of a helmet may have prevented life-threatening traumatic brain injury in Luca’s case, it is clear that traumatic brain injuries continue to pose a significant risk to skier and snowboarders,” coroner Timothy Wiles wrote in his report on the death of 16-year-old Luca Cesar, who died of a traumatic brain injury after falling off a ledge near Grouse Mountain’s Heaven’s Sake run while snowboarding with friends. “There is a clear assertion from experts specializing in trauma medicine that the use of a helmet may significantly reduce injury or mortality and that the legislated use of helmets should be strongly considered.”

Cesar was not wearing a helmet at the time of his death. Wiles asserts that head injuries caused 26 percent of the skier deaths and 20 percent of snowboarder deaths across B.C. between 2007 and 2013. The number for the two groups combined totaled 37.

Wiles did acknowledge, however, that Cesar’s inexperience, speed and weather conditions may have also played a role in his death.

Officials with the Canada West Ski Area Association say that while they advocate against mandatory helmet legislation, 85 percent of B.C.’s skiers and riders are already wearing one. That number is up from 32 percent in 2003.

On the other side of Canada, Brookvale Provincial Ski Park on Prince Edward Island announced last month that it will require all riders to wear helmets on its slopes this winter. Since 2012, Nova Scotia has required by law that all riders province-ride wear helmets.