Staying on track with skateboarding

Parks & Recreation, August, 1994 by Ken Wormhoudt

Skateboarding has been popular for about 30 years and has seen advancements in equipment from old style skateboards to more resilient boards and from composite wheels to neoprene wheels with high efficiency bearings.

Most skaters learned to skate on city streets, sidewalks, and other public and private places, but many cities now have passed or are in the process of passing ordinances that prohibit skaters from skating on streets and sidewalks. Skaters, left with no place to skate legally, have organized and approached their city councils to request that their cities provide them with skateboard tracks, just as cities provide tennis courts, basketball courts, soccer fields, and baseball and softball fields for other citizens of the community.

A few cities have responded to such requests and had tracks designed specifically for skateboarding, generally built within new or existing public parks. Due to skateboarders' demands and the growth of skateboarding as a sport, many cities are exploring the possibility of having skateboard tracks designed and built in their communities.

One of the objectives in building a skateboard track is to get skateboarders off the city's streets and sidewalks, where skateboarding is dangerous, inappropriate, and--in some cities--prohibited. A parallel objective is to acknowledge that skateboarding is a sport and that a skateboard track would provide a place where skaters could enjoy their sport and improve their skating skills.

The sport of skateboarding is too new and tracks too few to have generated a body of statistical information or design standards. While research necessarily has been subjective, some clear conclusions can be made:

* Skateboarding is proving to be less hazardous than once was believed. While minor injuries may be fairly common, serious life threatening or permanent injuries are extremely rare.

* While the range in age of most skateboarders is from 10 to the mid-20s, the majority are in the 14 to 18 range and almost exclusively male. On weekdays, the majority of skaters using a track will usually be young, local residents. On weekends, a number of skaters may arrive from out of town, when skateboarders of driving age will be attracted to the track. This may change if more cities build their own skateboard track.

* Skateboarders generally seem to appreciate any track designed for them, based on lack of alternative places to skate.

* Most skaters seem to behave responsibly and police themselves to retain their use of the track.

Every city that explores the idea of possibly building a skateboard track faces the problem of the city's liability regarding the track. Some skateboard tracks in cities are not officially designated or signed as skateboard tracks. Instead, they are described as multi-use elements in the city park where skate-boarding is not prohibited. No rules are posted, the tracks are not fenced, and safety equipment is not required.

The above school of thought is similar to some risk managers' position on the skateboard liability issue. They state that there is risk inherent in any recreational activity or facility and that a skateboard track presents no greater risk than the slides and swings in a park. Therefore, they recommend that the skateboard track not be posted with rules for use or requirements for safety equipment unless the city is able to staff the track during operating hours and completely secure it during other times.

There is another school of thought about rules and safety equipment requirements. Some cities require rules to be posted and safety equipment to be worn by skaters to reduce liability to the city. even if the rules and regulations are not enforced by on-site supervision. Helmets, elbow pads and knee pads generally are required and rules for use of the are posted.

The decision to accept liability associated with a skateboard track ultimately must be made by the governing body of each city. The issue can be minimized by tracks that are designed to be as safe as possible. Insurance coverage for skateboard tracks is available from some insurance companies, with policies requiring staffing, membership, and safety equipment. Each of the cities in which I have designed skateboard tracks has chosen to forgo insurance due to its high cost and impracticality of the associated requirements by the insurance companies.

The design of a skateboard track must include considerations for safety, be economically feasible, be compatible with other uses in a public park, and not adversely impact any nearby residents. It should incorporate features that allow skaters of different levels of ability to be challenged; it may contain convex and concave shapes in the forms of bowls, with ridges valleys, channels, ramps, and level areas. It also may contain curbs, steps, a fun box, and speed bumps.

The track's design should be a reasonable compromise between fun and safety. The height, width, and slope of bowls, ridges, valleys, and channels will dictate the speed and difficulty for skaters using the track. Vertical slopes and sharp edges should be eliminated from the design and substituted with a gently rounded lip at the top edge of all slopes. This is not only for the safety of skaters but also for the safety of any non-skater who might wander onto the track and slide into a bowl, compared to falling vertically into a bowl.