Page 4285 - Week 14 - Thursday, 24 October 1991
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A number of complaints have been made to me about skateboarders and the physical damage and danger that they do present. Unlike Mr Wood, the noise does not particularly worry the people; it is the approaching unknown, as the noise comes towards them, that people are scared of. I will give you an example of an 80-year-old who has complained to me. She was knocked over the bonnet of a nearby parked car by one of these young people. She was left lying with a broken leg and a broken arm as the skater took off into the distance. As for their being generally responsible, I could say, as a generalisation, that in my opinion they are generally not responsible.
This particular lady, after 18 months in hospital and four major operations, now has permanent injury and goes into her terminal years with this problem. I do not see that it is appropriate, in an enlightened society such as ours, to permit this possibility. Mr Stefaniak suggested that it is only the young and the old who are concerned for their safety. I suggest that people of all ages - particularly young, middle-aged people like me - are concerned about being hit by some of these 18- to 22-year-old skaters in full flight. They would knock all of us around. You may survive it, Mr Stefaniak; but the rest of us, I think, would recognise that we had been hit by this missile, particularly, the skateboard.
I wonder why it has not occurred to our skateboard manufacturers to put a tie on the skateboard, just as they have on surfboards. Perhaps that is not possible, but one would think it would be possible to have the board tied to the leg of the skater. It would have to be the leg that was not propelling the skateboard.
Mr Connolly: It would come back and smash you in the shin.
MR PROWSE: Well, it would come back and hit the skater in the shin and that would be a problem for them to wear. They could wear some shin pads, but it would avoid the problem of the skateboard getting away and impinging on somebody else.
Mr Wood suggested that these skateboarders are generally responsible. Well, I had occasion only yesterday to chastise two 17- or 18-year-olds who were leaping onto the brand new work in front of FAI House, where they are putting in garden plots. The cement has not even cured. These clowns were boarding onto this and chipping pieces off the pretend marble. I pulled up and asked whether they realised the damage they were doing, that they were chipping this brand new work. All I got for my efforts was an earful of bad language. They suggested that I go and take my problem elsewhere.
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