One of the issues that interested Council when speaking to Sgt. Laurie Jalbert of the Kimberley RCMP was that of longboards and skateboards.
Coun. Albert Hoglund queried Jalbert on what could be done about longboards on city streets. He has received calls from concerned citizens, he said, and wanted to know who was responsible and what could be done.
The short answer is not much.
“With longboards I’ve gone all the way to the head of Traffic Services,” Jalbert said. “We know it’s an issue, they are on the highways at high speeds. I saw a guy laying flat on his board between Kimberley and Marysville. He went right by me and I said, ‘what was that?’ Then I realized it was a longboarder. It was extremely dangerous.
“There are no laws specific to skateboards and longboards specific to helmets. They are not vehicls, not bicycles, not pedestrians.
“If they are on the provincial highway we can charge them with impeding traffic. But there are no other laws on any municipal road under the Motor Vehicle Act.
“Towns have been enacting bylaws as a way to deal with skateboards and longboards. Different municipalities deal with it in different ways, but there is nothing that can be done under the MVA. It’s a difficult question and that’s as much as we have found.
“If they put someone’s life in danger there might be something under the criminal code, but if it’s just a simple longboarder going down the street, there is nothing.”