There have always been elements of conflict between pedestrians and high-risk activity enthusiasts. Within public spaces we rarely see these people positively interact with one another, mainly due to the fact that these activities are perceived as being extremely dangerous and destructive and that such characters should not be present within an area where people are at risk of injury to both pedestrians and skateboarders themselves. Unfortunately the activity of skateboarding has been tagged with negative labels through various degrees of media and words of mouth making the art form/sport come across as an unrighteous nuisance to the wider public. It is unrighteous because it can only take one person to shatter the image of ‘street skateboarding’ as a whole from one single event within an area, therefore no account is given to the vast majority of these enthusiasts and it is these reasonable people who suffer as a result of accidental and intentional events caused. Unfortunately, in most cases the majority of public spaces are suitable for skateboarding uses, they take full advantage of steps to ollie down, benches and curbs to grind and handrails to slide and other architectural artefacts to exploit, usually little consideration is given to the wider public because many of these areas were not designed to cater for such enthusiasts; to their demise, they fully acknowledge this. Over recent years there have been a rising number of cases where anti-skateboarding devices have been installed to these formerly skateable obstacles, a massive middle finger is directed at skateboarding, therefore the problem is left unresolved and many skateboarders feel aggravated.
The following article reports on the negative relationships between skateboarding and pedestrians in Gympie, though the nature of this issue is commonly read about in a range of stories from city to city, country to country. It is no surprise why reports like these exacerbate the situation at hand.
Article: Skateboarders Scare Pedestrians (The Gympie News) by Lee Gailer, 30th May 2009.
SKATEBOARDERS and BMX bikers are causing grief to pedestrians and motorists in Gympie's central business district and on various roads.
Several people have been struck by riders but police claim the situation is no worse than it ever has been.
Gympie Regional Mayor Ron Dyne said he was aware of the problem and told The Gympie Timeshe would be asking police to increase foot patrols in the main street.
“I know skateboarders and BMX bikers are a nuisance and an inconvenience to the public at the present moment - especially to the elderly people in town,” he said.
“Whenever I'm down the street I have a chip at them and most kick up their skateboards and continue along walking. I was having great success until recently when a kid refused to get off and gave me a gobfull.
“This kid said 'you silly old .... why don't you go and get ....'.”
Signs at every entry point to Mary Street clearly indicate no bikes or skateboards are permitted in the CBD however, there is question over who actually enforces the rules.
Council spokesman Bob Fredman said the signs were authorised traffic signs that police can act upon.
“It's not a local law matter,” he said.
“By putting those signs up it makes it a police matter - if they've got the resources at the time.”
Skateboarders and BMX bikers counting on Council to upgrade the skate park may find themselves up against strong opposition from business owners if they don't change their attitudes towards pedestrians.
David Hetherington and Warrick Hosking are both against Council upgrading the skate park and said: “When you see the problems they (skateboarders) cause and their attitudes, why should Council do them any favours?”
Source - http://www.gympietimes.com.au/story/2009/05/30/youths-on-wheels-scare-pedestrians/
The Gympie News website allows people to demonstrate their response, the following text allows us to see what some of these responses were.
Posted by papermate from Mountain Creek, Queensland
30 May 2009 3:21 p.m.
'Skateboarders' are actually people, they are young kids out and about living their life and not at home sitting on a computer. Give them a great place to skate and guaranteed they will be out of your way. Don't threaten these kids with attitude adjustments, how about you work with them and provide a really great facility where they can be safe, have fun and not get in the road of pedestrians? You have to earn respect, not demand it by the way...it goes both ways and those in authority positions would do well to learn that respecting young people is teaching them to respect you in return.
Posted by thedaily_millie from Gympie, Queensland
30 May 2009 8:52 p.m.
The news treats skateboarders as if they are pests, and shouldn't be allowed in communities. I mean, honestly, an inconvenience and a nuisance?
How mature and open minded.
So are the drug dealers and underage girls drinking and having sex but the police are more concerned with skateboarders and bmx riders?
Oh, the brilliance of our system.
Our attitude problems are as a result of the attitudes of the authority in Gympie
Skateboarding is a form of art and expression. A creative outlet and a passion.
Just like music, art, sport and writing. None of those are criticized and frowned upon.
I think that what was written in the Gympie Times about a skateboarder hitting an elderly man is ridiculous. No skateboarder is even aware of this event occurring.
You wouldn't know that skateboarders and BMX riders are respected members of the community because the media and the authorities are too busy stereotyping us and grouping us under 'social menaces.' Apart from this alleged 'running into an elderly person' what else can you pin the blame on skateboarders?
Posted by veteran from Veteran, Queensland
31 May 2009 6:57 a.m.
It seems that Mary Street is being treated like a playground by scateboard riders and pushbikes, it is a dangerous combination, pedestrians with these young people, who have no respect, manors and obviously no reading skills, as they completely ignore the signs banning the use of bikes and boards. I dislike shopping in Mary Street knowing at any time I may be injured, I feel so sorry for the business owners, they must be feeling the effects of these Law breakers.
Come on pedestrians, take a stand, demand safe footpaths in this beautiful city we live in.
The success rate of pulling in high-risk activity enthusiasts into skate parks is soaring, however many feel that they have been cast aside and pushed to one corner. These facilities are catered for skateboarding and every obstacle found within them is particularly desirable to progress on, though skate parks are limited in social dynamics, never changing and after time many people move on because they have had enough of the ordinary. Skateboarding within an urban environment is profoundly appealing because such spaces offer sometimes prudent and variable environments, the beauty comes down to the fact that skateboarding is an art form and in order for it to become distinct and diverse as intended, we need to provide terrain for this activity to strive in amongst a variety of challenging, but controlled atmospheres. Providing that upmost consideration is given to both parties (pedestrians and skateboarders) in design process, there is no reason to disbelieve that implementing high-risk activities into urban spaces is a firm and practical likelihood. If this implementation was to be encouraged, designers need to understand how and why this firm and practical likelihood could be achieved, exploration into aspects of sociology, spatial dynamics, materiality etc. need to be carefully measured when successfully minimising potential instances of conflict between the two users, considerations like these will result in a socially legible and coherent landscape for pedestrians to walk through, meet and audience whilst the art of skateboarding takes place.
Break-dancing is similar to skateboarding, with respect to their degrees of individuality and risk factors. Spectators can be seen in the image below, space is present from the act and pedestrians resulting in minimal conflict between them. Instead, pedestrians can fully admire the art form without feeling at risk of injury or in some aspects, a wrongly assumed social classification from others, all within a small urban space.
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