The province should review safety regulations governing use of longboards and other “alternative” modes of transportation in the wake of recent longboarding tragedies, says Vancouver Island’s chief medical health officer.
“We’ve had a big review on alcohol policies, maybe we need a review on road-use policies including our trails and alternative [modes of transportation],” Dr. Richard Stanwick said Wednesday.
Stanwick’s comments came after a 17-year-old Cedar boy was fatally injured while longboarding near Nanaimo on Monday. Ryan Thomas Wallace-Tarry was riding in the southbound lane of the road in front of Cedar Secondary School, 10 kilometres south of downtown Nanaimo, when he was hit by a northbound flat-deck truck about 6 p.m., RCMP said.
Wallace-Tarry was wearing dark, non-reflective clothing and apparently not wearing a helmet, police said.
On Jan. 2, Ciaran Martin, a 16-year-old student at G.P. Vanier Secondary School in Courtenay, was struck by a vehicle on Macaulay Road as he was longboarding.
Martin, who was not wearing a helmet, died three days later.
Stanwick said the variety of alternative means of transportation, including skateboards, bicycles, inline skates and mobility scooters, combined with a lack of clear guidelines for proper use and safety equipment, has created a regulatory dog’s breakfast — especially considering that different jurisdictions often have different rules.
“Is this going to be simple and straightforward? Likely not,” he said. “But the fact that we’re seeing these tragedies may in fact provide us with the courage to look at this. … It may be time to see what we need to do on a more collective basis.”
Change likely won’t come easily. Stanwick noted that Sidney’s efforts to bring in regulations governing the use of mobility scooters failed to get support at a recent Union of B.C. Municipalities convention.
“For example, scooters can blast away on sidewalks and there’s absolutely no regulation to preclude them doing so,” he said. “As the population increases, maybe we want to be proactive in looking at what we can do to make it safer for all road users.”
Locally, different municipalities are being asked to move in different directions when it comes to scooters.
Oak Bay council asked Monday for a report from staff about the possibility of prohibiting use of longboards on certain streets in light of the recent deaths and because of concerns that have been raised about longboarders on Barkley Terrace.
“The neighbours who brought forward the petition were very concerned about the safety of the longboarders,” said Mayor Nils Jensen.
“They all describe the longboarders as polite young men so it wasn’t from the noise or the disturbance point of view that they were approaching council, but it was for the safety of young persons.”
Jensen said he is reaching out to the longboarders to encourage them to participate in any process leading to new regulations.
Oak Bay prohibits skateboarding on a number of streets (as well as adjacent sidewalks, boulevards and parking bays), including: Granite Street between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.; Christie Way; Oak Bay Avenue between Foul Bay Road and Monterey Avenue; and Turkey Head Walkway.
Victoria has asked its staff to examine lifting its ban on skateboarding in the downtown and changing a policy that allows bylaw officers to seize skateboards from people using them downtown.
Mayor Dean Fortin said the role of a municipality “is to work to create the infrastructure that increases safety — whether that be bike lanes, sidewalks or lighting for visibility issues.”
