Why Scooters Should Be Banned from Skateparks

If you made great adventure plans involving your newly bought Fuzion scooter, there are some things that you should be aware of. First of all, scooters could get banned from skateparks because scooterists don’t pay attention to their surroundings and have a reckless style of riding.

Scooter riders don’t follow the rules

Since most of the scooterists are kids, there is a higher chance they don’t know what to look out for and how they should behave at the skatepark. Every rider follows a set of rules known as skatepark etiquette when going to a public skatepark. Actually, it is more about common sense than legit rules.

In general, skateparks are funded with tax money. So every person has the right to ride at the skatepark as much as the next person. To keep everyone happy and safe you wait for your turn and let other people ride unbothered when it’s their time to go on the ramps.

Scooterists are bad for general safety

As a common courtesy, you give a quick look around before dropping in on a ramp to make sure that you don’t cut off other riders. Also, you should check the lines that other skatepark enthusiasts use. Observe how other people are moving along the park and check if there is any chance of your riding lines intersecting. 

If it seems they are moving at a slower pace or have an unpredictable way of riding, you should wait for a couple of minutes until they clear the ramps. 

While waiting for a better moment to start your fun sessions, don’t stop or stand in a zone used by other people. Some of the scooterists place the front wheel over the coping while waiting for their turn to drop in. This is irritating for anyone wanting to grind or stall the coping. Furthermore, this is dangerous if a rider doesn’t see them standing near the edge and goes for a trick. 

However, this simple behavior seems to be of little interest for scooter riders since they sometimes cut people off and take snack brakes in the most inconvenient places.

They choose the worst places to stop

The majority of skateparks have different benches or ledges you can rest on. But most of these areas are also destined for riding and usually, riders want to use all the available obstacles. So if you spot a big empty area, check that nobody is about to ride there before taking a break. 

You could always ask the riders if they intend to go there. Also, if you feel a lot of wax on your pants when sitting own, it means that you should get going from that area of the skatepark. 

Scooter riders use too much wax

Scooterists put wax on rails to reduce the wear on their decks despite the fact that it could be dangerous for the other riders. Imagine being used to the way your deck slides across a rail and suddenly it becomes very slippery. There is a great chance that you won’t be able to control your skateboard gliding and fall on the ground or even worse. 

In case you want to wax a rail or any other thing, ask around if they think it needs waxing too. If you really need to apply wax to do your tricks easily, put some on your deck instead of waxing the rail used by everybody.

They ride flat

Some scooter kids are simply riding flat in the middle of the ramp while skateboarders are waiting for their turn. Not only do they stop other riders from having a good time but they are also creating a dangerous situation. If a skateboarder makes a big flyout, it could be hard for him to dodge the kid standing in the middle of the ramp. 

Without wanting to, the skateboard will fully slam the kid to the ground leading to serious injuries. If you feel like riding flat or have no skill to use the ramps or the obstacles, it’s better for everybody if you ride your scooter in the parking lot until you learn at least some basic skills.

Scooterists are known to be snaking

Because they don’t know about the park etiquette or simply don’t care, scooter riders are big fans of snaking. Snaking means disrespecting other park riders as scooterists drop in or go over an obstacle right before another rider was planning to go. By doing this, they seem to have no concern about other people’s safety or even their own well being. 

They can’t imagine that a collision with a heavier skatepark rider will injure them more. Furthermore, being involved in an accident while riding a scooter is far more dangerous than being hit while skating. A scooter has more parts that you can hit, get stabbed by, or get tangled in. It is hard to land safely if you ride a scooter regardless of your skill level. 

Keep in mind that you will have to kick the deck and push away the handlebars so you don’t get credit carded. Despite putting people in danger, they are not ready to listen to any form of logical argument and will consider it unlikely that they are making a mistake. 

Scooter riders’ parents

As we all know, most of the scooters enthusiasts are young kids wanting to be part of the select group of skatepark riders. So they pressure their parents into taking them to the nearest skatepark as soon as possible. 

Because it is easy to learn how to ride on a scooter, parents might believe their child is skilled enough to ride the concrete ramps along with the big boys. But they could make a mistake. Before getting to the park they have to explain the general rules to the kid and assure that this set of rules is understood completely. 

But most parents are not doing this. Either they drop off the kid and drive away or spend the entire time on social media or taking pictures of their child. They have no intention of observing the park’s rules or dangers. They must be considering that everyone present at the skatepark will look out for their kid.

In general, the park’s rules are not posted anywhere for the parents or young riders to read,so they have to be willing to learn through experience. Some of the older skatepark riders have learned these the hard way. They have been yelled at or involved in crashes where somebody got hurt. 

Scooter riders are costing people money

At this point, scooter riders are creating a toxic environment for all skatepark users. Maybe not the kids, but their parents have a „sue or be sued” mentality type and this kind of entitled attitude is hurting every skatepark organization or rider. 

If a scooter rider gets seriously injured while riding recklessly, the parents will assume that it’s everyone else’s fault. They will sue the skatepark administration asking for a lot of money. Trying to survive, some of the skateparks frequented by scooter riders have started to impose odd rules trying to protect the scooterists from themselves. 

Now, some of the skateparks have fixed sessions only for scooters so fewer places are available for people to ride whenever they feel like doing it.

Furthermore, a few skateparks started to ask for an entrance fee to collect funds. The money collected is intended to be used in lawsuits with injured scooterists instead of upgrading or expanding the skatepark. 

This is very frustrating for older park users since they are the ones that helped to build the skatepark. They had to put a lot of time and effort into raising money, asking Councillors for funds and attending numerous meetings and consultations. After all their effort, they now have to witness how scooter kids are ruining what used to be a place full of fun.

Skateparks were designed for skaters

At the beginning of these extreme sports, skaters were using empty pools to practice their craft since skateparks didn’t exist at that time. When skateparks were developed, they were made to resemble pools or other obstacles that skateboard riders used for practice. This is why the walls of the skateboard pit are so steep.

It could be safer for skaters to ride these obstacles than it is for scooterists since on a skateboard the center of gravity is lower. Scooters may be great for rail grinding or jumping over stairs but when it comes to riding into a skatepark pit, things could get dangerous.