Howdy: Skateboarding is in season now and these teens skate by taking any opening they can find to pass people. I have seen this. That is why I have chosen to write this letter.
Howdy: Skateboarding is in season now and these teens skate by taking any opening they can find to pass people. I have seen this. That is why I have chosen to write this letter.
If a stone jams the wheel of a skateboard, it becomes very dangerous because the surface of that skateboard has a top layer of approximately four inches carrying the weight of a person.
Now, to my point. These skateboarders do not wear helmets. Cyclists wear helmets. Bicycle riders have the courtesy of ringing a bell before they pass. That is great and I sure do appreciate this. What about the hard of hearing? Bicycles do see this and are extra cautious. Skateboarders do not have the same courtesy
They just see a hole and go through, like they are in the Indy race. Freedom on a skateboard does not give them the right to drive dangerously.
Sidewalks are not roadways.
There is a safe comfortable speed limit that taxpayers expect on sidewalks. Skateboarders like a 20-km/h speed. I think I am generous on that estimate.
If a person riding a skateboard collides with a person walking the impact is like a football tackle.
The speed combined with the distance of a skateboard off the ground, multiplied by body weight (let's say 170 pounds of a teenager) and that is dangerous kinetic inertia. That body weight is thrust onto the ground, cement or elderly people who are innocently going for a stroll with their stroller.
These skateboarders do not have the right to pass at high speeds. If that body weight slams into an elderly pedestrian that could eventually kill an elder.
What is their defence if that elder dies due to injuries they received?
Would they say, “I was going the usual speed and that person was in my way. I had ample room to skate by, but she moved into my way. Sorry they died.”
I have written the politicians but they never reply on anything I have sent in the past. Not even a quick recognition of a reply that says, “Thanks, we are on it.”
They are too busy enjoying their paycheques.
Karl Godden, St. Albert
