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West Vancouver mulls closing some streets to longboarders

mi66lul2Fighting for a safer way, longboarders Brad Sakawaky (left) and friend are working hard to educate younger riders on safety in the Longboarding community here in West Vancouver on June 26, 2013.

Photograph by: Mark van Manen,

“With dry summer weather looming, West Vancouver’s mayor told a public town hall meeting Wednesday night that staff will study ways to improve safety for adrenalin-chasing longboarders, including potentially closing various streets for the sport on rotating weekends.

After many of the roughly 50 parents and boarders at the public panel expressed their desire for an area devoid of cars dedicated to the sport, Mayor Michael Smith agreed to have staff study how other jurisdictions have improved safety for longboarders.

The panel was brought about after a spate of five serious longboarding injuries in the past two months in Metro Vancouver.

“The problem with road closures are they’re expensive and everybody wants someone else’s road to close — it’s not as simple as we might like it to be but it is done elsewhere and it’s something I think we need to look at,” said Smith, who added that there’s nothing stopping neighborhoods from creating their own safe longboarding zones.

“If there were 10 houses on a suitable street and four of the families had a youngster that wanted to longboard and they canvassed their neighbors and said, ‘look do we want to take a six-hour block and close the street?’” Smith said.

“Just like we used to do when I was a kid in West Van, close the street for tobogganing when it snowed.”

Jackson Hiltes, 23, works at CalStreets @ Longboarder Labs skateshop in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood and travels several times a week to West Vancouver’s exclusive British Properties area, which is his “go-to hill for skating.”

Hiltes says the recent rash of injuries is because the sport is getting bigger and there are fewer ways for younger riders to learn the skills they need to stay safe.

“We are finding, as a community, that we are running into a lot of younger kids and groups of younger kids with no older riders to mentor them and show them (things like) ‘this is how you safely spot this corner, man. Stop here because cars regularly come down this way and if you don’t stop you’re going to get hit,’” he said.

Hiltes came to Wednesday’s meeting all the way from South Surrey, where he is holding a similar meeting tonight with police and the community in the hopes that a “consistent message” develops throughout the municipalities of Metro Vancouver.

Dr. Samuel Gutman, an ER physician at Lions Gate Hospital, elicited the largest cheers of the night when he said “there’s something different about an adolescent (boy’s) brain” and advocated for a harm reduction approach to their risky behaviour, which would include a “professionalized” sport in a dedicated area.

West Vancouver Police spokesman Const. Jeff Palmer said police and bylaw officers can fine any rider $45 for ripping down the city’s streets, and also give out an identical penalty for infractions like not wearing a helmet.

The City of North Vancouver allows longboarding on its streets — as long as riders wear helmets — but has outlawed it in just over a dozen areas deemed unsafe.

In neighbouring North Vancouver District, longboarding the sloped streets is legal on all but two roads, however authorities can issue a $100 fine and even impound a board for 24 hours if a rider is deemed reckless.”

mhager@postmedia.com

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