Skateboarders aim to flip commuter bans

[phantom power]

Yet again, I'm reminded of scenes from Americathon.

Skateboarders in Asheville and across the USA are pushing to end such bans so they can legally use longboards — a more stable type of skateboard than those typically used for skate park tricks — as a means of transportation.

The debate is heating up along with gas prices and a national interest in going green. Supporters stress that the boards don't take up parking spaces and are easily stored inside, unlike bicycles. Opponents point to safety concerns.

"I feel the overall public safety risks of adding a new element to our city roads outweighs the desire for a group of folks to see the legalization of this alternative transportation mode," said Bill Russell, a member of the Asheville City Council and chair of its Public Safety Committee.

Other council members feel differently. Gordon Smith said he supports the "four wheels down" concept of legalizing skateboards strictly for transportation, and Cecil Bothwell called the idea "a viable transportation alternative."

Jeff Stern, president of the National Skateboard Association in Westlake Village, Calif., said setting rules for how people use skateboards is "ridiculous."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-04-skateboards04_ST_N.htm

[tridim]

1. Skateboarders should be free too. nt

[jberryhill]

2. If God had wanted skateboards, we'd have wheels instead of feet

Skateboards are of the Devil.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. They should be in the bike lanes, same with scooters and those on roller skates or blades

[elocs]

4. The trouble with that idea is that bikes are registered road vehicles

that are expected to obey the rules of the road which often skateboarders do not like to do (many on bikes do not like to obey the rules of the road either).

[jallo]

5. That depends

In many states, bikes are not "registered road vehicles". In others, they are. Otoh, they are required to obey the rules of the road in every state traffic code I am aware of. The law on skateboards varies of course, but there is nothing prohibiting legislatures from enabling them to ride on the road just like bicycles AND defining them as a "vehicle" (not a motor vehicle) that that would make them liable to obey the same rules of the road. Iow, they should stop at stop signs, just like bicycles, etc.

I fully support the idea of skateboards as a valid mode of transport. I went to a college where bicycles and skateboards routinely were used for transport to and from campus, and shared the bike paths.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. My concern would be pedestrian safety

It seems to make sense at some level to keep the motorized separate from the human powered from those walking.

[elocs]

7. Here in WI and where I live in La Crosse it is legal for bikes to ride on the sidewalks.

They must yield to pedestrians and ride at a safe speed. In other words, not racing down the sidewalks at 20 mph hell bent for leather. Bicyclists must respect pedestrians.

The same would be true for skateboarders except that so many of them seem like these free and independent spirits where when they are on the sidewalks, pedestrians beware and better get out of the way.

A skateboard is not the same as a bicycle and does not have the same stability and safety features of a bike. A skateboarder is much more likely to fall off their board or lose control of it than what would happen with a bike and as someone who drives and rides bikes I would not want to see skateboarders in the streets (where I live they can get a ticket for that) mixing it up with cars and trucks.

What it all comes down to is respect and safety whether it is a bicyclist or a skateboarder. Rules apply to them both and they must be obeyed.