Eurolink News

Westmeath man makes EU case for safer horse-riding helmets (28th January, 2010

January 28, 2010 at 2:35 pm Leave a comment

An Irishman whose son was killed in a horse-riding accident has travelled to Brussels to press for the enforcement of new safety standards on riding helmets. Peter Downes, from Russellstown Stud near Mullingar, began a lengthy personal campaign to improve the level of protection provided by safety helmets after his son’s tragic death in September 1995. 16 year old Stephen suffered fatal head injuries when he was crushed by a rearing horse, even though he was wearing a helmet recommended by the Irish Turf Club at the time.
As a result of Peter Downes’ efforts, a new European safety standard on high-performance helmets for equestrian activities was developed in October 2005. However it’s since emerged that no newly-designed helmets have been placed on the market because of concerns that the new standards would result in helmets being too heavy and cumbersome to wear.
Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness, who has supported Mr Downes’ case through to this week’s hearing before the European Parliament Petitions Committee, said it was ‘simply not good enough’ for manufacturers to claim that there is no market demand for high performance helmets. ‘Effectively the work done to produce the new standard was incomplete, with no thought given to practical implications,’ she said.
The European Commission will now seek to withdraw the 2005 standards and re-examine how to improve the level of protection using current technology.

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