Skateboards are no longer banned on the streets of Sackville.
In a 4 to 3 vote, council passed second and third reading of a revised streets bylaw that will allow people to ride skateboards on streets with certain restrictions, such as wearing helmets and refraining from tricks.
In addition to a requirement for Motor Vehicle Act approved helmets, the bylaw requires people on skateboards to:
- wear reflective material between dusk and dawn,
- travel “in a straight line as close as is practicable to the right hand side of the roadway”,
- yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and cyclists, and to
- travel “in a manner and at a speed appropriate to the surface being travelled upon.”
A final vote on the revised bylaw was nearly delayed by a month, after Councillor Mike Tower requested copies of the communication from the town’s solicitor and insurance company, and asked for time to review them. CAO Jamie Burke agreed to provide it, and recapped the process for how staff came up with the proposed bylaw.
“Our lawyer originally said not to do this,” said Burke Monday. “That was very clear… We communicated that to council and council gave us direction to say, well, we want to explore ways to do it.”
Burke said the solicitor then advised that the town could limit risk or exposure by not simply allowing skateboarding, but by applying some regulations to the activity in town streets.
“We’re telling people they need to wear a helmet which needs to be CSA approved,” said Burke. “We’ve got a whole bunch of requirements in the document that we would expect, in consultation with our lawyer and our insurance provider, would reduce our risk or exposure.”
Burke said the town’s insurance provider had indicated that if there was a claim due to a skateboarding accident, premiums could go up. “And they had listed a variety of things that it would be best practice to do,” said Burke, including doing regular reviews of the town’s street network and keeping track of when the street sweeper goes out. “So putting more procedures in place that would reduce our risk or exposure in the event that we were to get a claim,” said Burke, “that’s what both parties suggested.”
Councillor Allison Butcher made a plea not to delay the third reading by another month, citing the considerable staff time and resources dedicated to the bylaw revision so far. In the end, the delay did not get consensus, and the bylaw went to third and final reading last night.
Before it passed, Tower proposed an amendment to the bylaw to designate downtown streets and the two designated highways as off-limits to people on skateboards. But the motion to amend received no seconder, and so was dropped.
Tower, as well as councillors Bruce Phinney and Matt Estabrooks, all spoke against the revised bylaw.
Estabrooks told council that he had witnessed, “a person hit by a vehicle after losing control of the skateboard,” which resulted in the person having two badly broken legs. “It was terrifying and the youth was a mess,” said Estabrooks.
Estabrooks said he also experienced a near miss while on a skateboard as a teenager, and has also been called to many motor vehicle accidents as a volunteer firefighter. ”Vehicle versus pedestrian/cyclist/skateboarder collisions do not end well for the latter,” said Estabrooks. “Skateboards are not a safe form of transportation on our current roadways.”
Estabrooks also said Sackville should be planning for separated infrastructure which would make active transportation options safer, but that the town was not yet in a financial position to make that happen.
“I am a huge proponent for smaller, greener and alternative transportation methods beyond fossil fuel or even electric vehicles,” said Estabrooks. “But each alternative needs to be assessed individually in regards to our residents personal safety.”
Councillors Evans and Dietz both spoke in favour of the motion, recapping some previous arguments and adding some new information. Dietz referred to a number of statistics showing a the distribution of injuries across different modes of transportation, and the relative risk of activities like organized sports and playing on playground equipment.
In the end the new bylaw was passed with councillors Butcher, Black, Evans and Dietz voting in favour, and Phinney, Tower and Estabrooks voting against. Ken Hicks, who was absent Monday night, had spoken against lifting the ban in the past. Had Hicks been present Monday, the vote likely would have been a tie, and Mayor Shawn Mesheau would have had to weigh in to settle the matter.
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