Less than a month after the park’s Aug. 7 grand opening, there have already been complaints about police enforcement of city laws requiring the use of helmets and other safety devices for those riding in the park.
The city police have been forced to write citations when they witness these infractions, and skateboarders and their parents are complaining.
Several callers to The Mount Airy News have voiced those complaints, and mostly they go something like this: Those safety pads are expensive. A lot of kids can’t afford those, so the police should leave them alone and let them ride.
Those sentiments sound okay on the surface, but there are some potential problems if such comments were taken to heart by the city police.
First, skateboarding can be dangerous. Any skateboarder can tell you the sport comes with plenty of bumps and bruises, skinned knees and elbows, and occasionally a broken bone or sprained ligament.
The city was required by state law to enact an ordinance declaring skateboarding as a hazardous recreational activity. Part of that legislation, which is designed in part to protect the city against any liability resulting from injuries at the park, requires those participating in the sport at the park to wear proper safety equipment.
If the city had not adopted that ordinance, and does not routinely enforce the law, it could open itself up to litigation should someone be injured and the city found to be at least partially at fault. We suspect the city will shut down and dismantle the park before it leaves itself open to such a lawsuit — as it should.
In other words, if these regulations were not in place, and were not being enforced, the park would most likely cease to exist.
The second factor to consider in this requirement is simply this — if someone cannot afford the proper skateboarding equipment, then perhaps that person cannot yet afford to skateboard.
We do not mean to be uncaring in suggesting a child, or adult, not be allowed to skateboard, but the safety equipment is designed for a reason — to protect those participating. A helmet might seem costly, but who can put a price tag on avoiding a head injury?
In the end it will be those who regularly use the skateboard park, and perhaps their parents, who determine if it is ultimately a successful long-term part of the city’s recreation program. If users of the skateboard park are vigilant in self-policing, ensuring that those who use the facility comply with the law, we suspect it will still be enjoyed by skateboarders 20 years from now.
If those using the park continually flaunt the rules, and complain about enforcement of the regulation, the park’s lifespan might be short.
Besides the fact that when you skate street you roll if you fall. You rarely ever scrape your elbows. I had rather deal with a scraped elbow once every 6 months than to deal with the rash from the pads and the restriction of movement every day I skate.
I have seen people fall BECAUSE of the pads. Just the other day some kid went up the quarter pipe and caught his knee pad on the top and fell over the other side and broke his arm in 2 places.
Pads cause more problems than they fix. Were not skating vert ramps or mega ramps made out of slide skatelite what the pads are made for. Were skating concrete ledges and rails.
Bottom line is with pads, cons drastically out way the pros. End of story.
Now, lets look at this condemnable behavior that this article addresses. I'm 33 years old, and have been skateboarding since I was 10. I've never even owned safety equipment, other than a helmet, and I've only had one of those for a few years.
I have skated literally hundreds of skateparks al across the west, and very few have safety equipment rules.
Equipment IS expensive - far surpassing the cost of the skateboard itself. In fact, that's a huge draw to skateboarding, is its low start up cost - in many ways it resembles soccer in other countries: if you have a board, you are in. Even better is there is no league to join ($), no uniform to wear ($), no further equipment ($), etc. The average skateboarder is 14 years old, which most of which are on limited budgets. When I was a teenager I rode terrible equipment - there was no way I could have afforded safety gear on top of that.
There are two main styles of skateboarding terrain: streetscape and transition. The Mt Airy park caters more to the streetscape end of the spectrum, which also caters to the majority of skaters. However, this style of terrain is not conducive to knee & elbow pads, as these are generally deemed effective when skating obstacles about 8' and taller. Knee pads are used effectively sliding on them - which simply doesn't occur on the style of terrain in Mt Airy. Its like requiring parachutes in a commercial airplane.
While I have no idea what NC law is, its pretty easy to mandate what others should do based off of perceived understandings of risk, but it doesn't always translate.
www.skatepark.org
Lastly, Law enforcement DOES have more pressing matters. Please allow them to perform their duties. Don't bog them down with this.