Page 4703 - Week 15 - Thursday, 16 December 1993
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Older people feel very vulnerable with skateboards and bicycles and roller blades rushing around them, mainly because of their frailty and, if there is an accident, the long term effects of an accident. It makes them very nervous. That fear keeps some of them from going into public places.
I think it is worth acknowledging, Madam Speaker, that that is a legitimate concern; that there is a real concern about the impact on the elderly of our community with this kind of activity going on in public places. The impact is not merely apprehended, but it can be, in fact, real even without contact between skateboarders and the elderly.
Mr Develin, the pharmacist who spoke to the committee, has a strong interest in this matter. He related his experience. Again, I quote:
I have attended several mishaps, particularly with the elderly and the young. They have not been struck by a skateboard but they have been frightened by a skateboard. The older people are slower to move, they have impaired hearing in a lot of cases and they get easily startled. One particular case which I recall involved a woman of about 70 to 75 in fairly good health. She was startled by a skateboard, fell over and had to seek medical attention after I had patched her up. She was very shaken. She fell flat on her face and broke her dentures. The whole thing was an unintentional problem with a skateboard. She just got startled and she fell.
The representative of the Council on the Ageing also referred to the number of reports of people actually being injured through direct encounters with skateboards. Three members of the Belconnen Senior Citizens Club were hospitalised, according to the president of the club, following accidents with skateboards and things of that kind. Mr Develin also talked about the problem of the dual use of our shopping centres as recreational centres and as places to shop. He said:
Over recent years since the advent of skateboards and roller blades we have seen a deterioration in the use of that area -
he was talking about Garema Place -
to, I feel, the detriment of, particularly, the pedestrians. I personally have nothing against people being involved in skateboarding - I think it is probably a great sport for a lot of children - but I think it is horses for courses. I do not think the area is really designed for that shared environment.
Madam Speaker, I would submit to the Assembly that the hearings conducted by the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs point to the need for a two-pronged approach to this problem. I believe that we should be looking to offer a carrot - that is, offering young people a suitable alternative venue, with reasonably easy access from their homes, where they can engage in skateboarding and related activity. But I believe that we should also be taking steps to discourage them in a gentle but effective way from using public areas such as shopping centres for this kind of activity.
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