Q: How are they going to reduce accidents to zero when they don’t stop skateboarding period? There should be laws in place to stop people from riding skateboards either on the road or on sidewalks. I have been hit by somebody’s skateboard on the sidewalk while walking my dog, and my dog has been hit by skateboarders. Skate parks should by the only place you can ride a skateboard. It should be required by law that if a person wants to be skateboarding in the road then they need a driver’s license, license plates, registration, and insurance on the skateboard. Could that become a law?
A: Before we tackle the possibility of changing the laws about skateboards, let’s first review what the laws are now. Yes, I’m putting off dealing with the hard part, but it’s also good to start with what we know. According to Washington State law, a skateboarder is a pedestrian. It might not fit your (or the dictionary’s) definition, but our law includes, in addition to the normally understood meaning, any person who is using “a means of conveyance propelled by human power other than a bicycle.” Skateboards, kick scooters, roller blades, wheelchairs; using any of them qualifies you as a pedestrian.
Once we get down to the local level though, it’s a little different. Skateboarders are still pedestrians, but local jurisdictions can put some limitations on where they can ride. Some cities do exactly what you’re asking for, on a limited scale, by prohibiting skateboard riding in downtown districts on both sidewalks and streets.
As to whether skateboards should be prohibited on all sidewalks and streets, let’s get back to your opening sentence. When you referenced getting crashes to zero, I assume you were alluding to Target Zero, Washington’s ambitious goal of eliminating all fatal and serious injury crashes. I don’t want to minimize the experience you’ve had with careless or disrespectful skateboarders. We should all have the ability to walk along a sidewalk without fear of getting hit. And I’d be angry too if my dog got struck by a skateboarder. But the crash data in Washington doesn’t support a need for a widespread ban of skateboards.
If not a ban, what about licensing skateboarders? (I’m not sure if you were serious about license plates, registration and insurance but the thought of tiny little license plates on the back of every skateboard made me smile, no matter how unrealistic it is.) Getting back to the question, allow me to make a less-than-perfect analogy. If you want to fly a plane you need a pilot’s license. If you want to fly a kite, you just need a kite (and some wind). If I crash my kite into your house I only need a ladder to get it off your roof (with your permission); if I crash a plane into your house we have serious problems. We expect that as the consequences of failure increase, the need for licensing is greater. On a side note, did you know that you don’t need any kind of license to fly an ultralight? I can’t imagine the legislature enacting a law to license skateboards when they’re good with 250 pound flying machines being operated by unlicensed pilots.
Even with skateboards generally being allowed on sidewalks, you’re more likely to get injured by a car while walking on a sidewalk than by a skateboard. The reality is that skateboards, cyclists and pedestrians are more often the victims of traffic crashes. I’m not suggesting that cars are inherently evil; just that the consequences of a mistake are so much greater when you’re piloting a multi-ton vehicle than when you’re getting around on human-powered wheels or your own two feet. And let’s face it; regardless of your preferred mode of travel, we’ve built a transportation system that harms its users every day, and the problem is us. Somewhere around 94 percent of fatal crashes involve human behavior as a factor. It’s important to evaluate our traffic laws and see where we can make changes to increase safety. It’s even more important that when we use the roads, as a pedestrian, a cyclist or especially as a driver, we remember that we’re sharing them not with machines but with other people in our community.