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Yea they should. As long as they don't intentionally try to harm someone.
No. Tell the kids who are trying to look cool to go on those ramps or something.
As long as they don't intentionally try to harm someone would imply that they are permitted to use them unless they do that.
So you're saying that they shouldn't be prohibited then? Just to be clear.
Similar to bikers, I have no problem with this while everyone else in the world seems to. Though somewhat difficult choice to navigate a crowded cityscape, it is still perfectly acceptable means of travel in my book.
In my youth – and yes, that was a very long time ago – we were taught that bicycles had to follow the same laws as motor vehicles. That actually prepared us for when we began to learn how to drive.
I have noticed that not many children nowadays know anything about right of way, 4-way stop signs, or any of the rules of the road.
It seems to me that skateboarders have no knowledge of any of this either, and less regard for the general pedestrian to boot. A bad attitude to say the least.
It is my not-so-humble opinion (based on the information that I have provided here) that skateboards should only be allowed at skateboard parks that are built for that purpose. Skateboarding anywhere else should be legal infraction of law (same as a traffic ticket in most states) in the least and a minor misdemeanor at worst – with fines to the parents or legal guardian's increasing with each offense. (again I allude to the fact that parents MUST accept responsibility for a child's actions until that child reaches the legal age of adulthood).
I suspect that a "bad attitude" is sufficient people to want to issue penalties. To my mind a bad attitude is 1) nothing that being a teenager doesn't create and 2) is virtually impossible to quantity into a legal terminology to require and design appropriate penalties. As a result, people fall back on silly things like "they're using a skateboard! on the sidewalk!" to penalize a few goofballs.
I still don't see how the use of a skateboard for means of travel by itself is any cause for concern though. For example the "bad attitude" problem would easily apply to people who cut in lines or cut people off in traffic. But it does not apply to everyone who is walking or driving a car. The mode of conducting one self from point A to point B is not the issue. It's the actual behavior and use of that transportation mode that should be at question.
"(again I allude to the fact that parents MUST accept responsibility for a child's actions until that child reaches the legal age of adulthood). "
yay! and i was begininng to think i was the only one who thought that
The problem is no one or very few kids use a skateboard for travel "to get from point A to point B". They all want to use them to do tricks, and this is highly encouraged through video games and other materials, plus the factor of wanting to look cool in front of their friends. The tricks involve everything from slamming the wheels down as hard they can to get the board to flip, to dragging the board itself or the wheels and underside of the board all over railings, curbs, and other edges and surfaces of other people's property – thereby causing damage to other people's property. There is also a liability issue – if one of these kids falls off his or her skateboard trying to do tricks and breaks something or suffers injury, or worse, injures another person – why should someone's homeowners or business insurance have to pay for that, when the kids were on property without permission and were doing something they knew to be inherently dangerous with a high probability of risk of injury?
Despite what many people may believe, sidewalks are usually not public property. "The city" or "the township" does not own sidewalks in front of people's houses. They also do not clear them, shovel them, or maintain and repair them. Nor do they assume liability for anything that happens on them. Most sidewalks are part of someone's property, and that sidewalk is their responsibility to maintain and is their liability. Public use of a sidewalk is usually covered under an easement clause in that property owner's deed. Easements such as sidewalks allow reasonable use of the property to people who don't own the property such as people who are walking from point A to point B, or allow the mailman to deliver the mail, or allow the electric company to work on their systems that may be on someone's property, etc. More often than not, kids are skateboarding on a sidewalk not for the purpose of going from point A to point B, but for the purpose of riding the skateboard as an amusement over some ramp or obstacle they think is fun to ride over, trying to do tricks, and are doing it over and over. That is not in the definition of an easement or the purpose of an easement. An easement does not give anyone the right to turn private property into a playground.
Yes, as far as I am concerned all skateboards should be banned on sidewalks, public streets, and anywhere other than the skateboard owner's or family owner's property, or a public skate park. These things are destructive, potentially dangerous to their own riders, a liability hazard, and are a general public nuisance.