Stephen Vance, Editor
Many in this community might not be aware that the use of skateboards on Meaford roads is prohibited. Surprised? So was I when I first became aware of a 30 year old bylaw that says just that.
Bylaw 24-87, which was approved by the Town of Meaford council in June of 1987, is one of those legacy bylaws that should be repealed.
We live in an age when transportation by human energy rather than fossil fuels is encouraged. We live in an era where lack of physical activity has become a real problem – to the point that our kids aren’t nearly as active as they were just a couple of decades ago, and as a result childhood obesity has become a major concern. We live in a community that includes a manufacturer of longboards (a longer version of the traditional skateboard increasingly used for cheap urban transportation in communities across the country).
Whatever problems, or more likely perceived problems, the 30 year old bylaw was intended to address, times have changed, and I think it’s time to take another look at this bylaw to determine if it is still necessary.
But I see kids on skateboards all the time, you might say. True, but every one of those kids (and adults too) that you see on a skateboard on streets in this municipality is actually breaking the law – a silly and unnecessary law, but a law just the same.
What does the bylaw in question say?
WHEREAS the Municipal Act, R.S.O. 1980, Chapter 302, Section 210 sub section 99 and 100 provides that a By-law may be passed by the Councils of local municipalities to prohibit or regulate coasting or tobogganing on the highways and to prohibit children from riding on the platforms of cars or riding behind or getting on wagons, sleighs or other vehicles while in motion and for preventing accidents arising from such causes. NOW THEREFORE THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF MEAFORD ENACTS AS FOLLOWS: The use of SKATE BOARDS or SURF BOARDS, a device constructed from flat board with a set of wheels such as roller skate wheels fastened beneath said board is prohibited on Town Hìghways Boulevards Sidewalks, Parking Lots within the limits of the Corporation of the Town of Meaford. Any person who violates the provisions of this By-law shall for every offence incur a penalty of not less than Twenty Five Dollars or more than Fifty Dollars inclusive of costs and such penalty shall be recoverable under the provisions of the Provincial Offences Act.
Seriously? Though I would love to see a surf board on wheels – that would be pretty cool.
“This law makes me a criminal every time I commute to work and home,” one local skateboarding enthusiast (who is also a husband, father, and a hard-working member of the community) told me recently. “I lived here when they started taking our boards away until our parents took us to the police station to get our boards, where our parents were sternly informed that we were law breakers. This town did its part in criminalizing skateboarders.”
I’m not really sure what dangers to the community skateboards pose as compared to bicycles, motorized bicycles, or roller blades, all of which are perfectly legal to use on our roads.
Our local longboard manufacturer is held up from time to time by our council and senior staff as an example of home-grown economic development. Alternate forms of transportation, particularly eco-friendly modes of transportation are being encouraged by governments far and wide, yet a product manufactured right here in Meaford, that is perfectly legal to use in communities elsewhere, can’t legally be used on our roads.
Over the years I have purchased skateboards and longboards for my own kids, including made-in-Meaford longboards, and it irks me to know that when they ride their boards when they are visiting me here in Meaford they are breaking the law, but when they ride them in their home community they are perfectly legal.
I guess all of us Meaford parents who have purchased, or allowed our kids to purchase skateboards and longboards are criminal enablers.
We’ve all seen and read news articles from time to time about silly, antiquated laws that are still on the books – this is one of them, and it’s time for our council to repeal this law and roll into the 21st century.
