Risky sports lead to benefit reductions
Anyone who takes excessive risks in sports must expect a reduction in benefits from Suva of at least 50%. This also applies to acrobatic jumps with the bicycle.
Suva classifies dangerous sports with high risks as risks. In the case of non-occupational accidents resulting from such a risk, the insurance company reduces the cash benefits by half - in particularly severe cases, it may even refuse them altogether.
A distinction is made between absolute risks, where it is impossible to reduce the danger to a reasonable level - such as base jumping or motocross racing - and relative risks, where the danger could be reduced by reasonable action. Under the latter, Suva cites as examples mountaineering with poor equipment or in bad weather, or paragliding in unfavorable wind conditions.
On the occasion of a federal court ruling, Suva now emphasizes that it considers acrobatic jumps with bikes to be an absolute risk. Anyone who does somersaults in the air, spins around their own axis, takes their hands off the handlebars or their feet off the pedals is not fully insured. If sportsmen and sportswomen have an accident while performing such and similar risky tricks, Suva reduces the cash benefits by at least 50 percent - in particular daily allowances and pension benefits. In doing so, it is following the recommendation of the Ad Hoc Commission on Accident Insurance, of which Suva and other accident insurers are members. The legislator has provided for reductions in the case of risk, so that premium payers do not have to pay in full for very high risks or in the case of incomprehensibly incorrect behavior on the part of the person who has suffered an accident.
Risky jumps
The ad hoc commission's recommendation was prompted by a January 2015 federal court ruling on dirt biking. The court defines this sport as a variant of cycling that takes place on terrain with artificial hills such as clay as well as other obstacles. So-called jumps are performed with the bike in order to be able to perform the most spectacular tricks possible in the air. Since the risk of this sport cannot be reduced to a reasonable level, it is considered an absolute risk.
With respect and good equipment
Absolute risks also include downhill races with mountain bikes (downhill) including training on the race track. Normal mountain biking or jumps without high-risk tricks are generally fully insured. These are considered to be relative risks - if necessary, the accident insurance will check in each individual case whether the usual rules and precautions have been seriously disregarded. Several factors are usually decisive for a reduction in benefits, such as a poorly equipped and completely inexperienced athlete on a difficult trail.
