The City of Victoria should give skateboards a break in the downtown core. Skateboarders are being singled out in ways that other users of roads and sidewalks are not.
If a cyclist runs a stop sign, the police don鈥檛 confiscate his bike. If a chattering pedestrian steps into the street against the light, officers don鈥檛 seize his cellphone. If a driver fails to signal a turn, authorities don鈥檛 snatch his car.
But if a skateboarder rolls through downtown, bylaw officers can grab his board, as well as fining him $75. They have done it eight times in the past year, a period when 300 people were caught skateboarding downtown.
A bylaw passed in 1991 prohibits skateboarding in an area roughly bounded by Wharf Street, Herald and North Park streets, Quadra Street, and Blanshard and Belleville streets.
Skateboarders like Jake Warren, who is organizing a petition to have the bylaw changed, say the bylaw was passed before the city had a skate park, when many young boarders made a nuisance of themselves at the corner of View and Douglas streets.
He wants to see the law updated so that, as in Portland, Ore., boarders can use the bike lanes on the streets. They would have to wear helmets, and they wouldn鈥檛 be subject to confiscation of their boards if they broke the rules.
Zipping skateboarders can be a nuisance on sidewalks, but so can people in mobility scooters and those with their attention buried in their smartphones.
Council should give serious consideration to allowing boarders to use the bike lanes.
