Commentary: Letter to a friend

Dear Nicole,

Here at UCF there is a big issue going on about skate boarding on campus. Students here use skate boarding as a form of transportation, but most are very inconsiderate about their peers who walk to class. People are getting injured very often, be the people walking and being hit by skate boarders or people falling off their skate boards. I experienced this first-hand, in which I narrowly avoided someone, but instead hit a curb and broke my elbow the first day of college. And even at the health center, when I was being seen about my injuries, there was another person that fell off her skateboard there too. The doctors acted like it was routine, because this kind of thing happens literally all the time. This is why I feel strongly about the issue of skate boarding. I am unsure though about how it should be addressed. Either skate boarding needs to be eradicated altogether, or there needs to be certain areas/times in which skate boarding is not allowed. These areas being locations where there is a lot of foot traffic, and times being when there are a multitude of classes releasing or starting. Other than the suggestions I listed, are there any others you can think of?

I was also discussing with fellow skate boarders about ways this can be resolved and we came to a very good conclusion. We decided that it would be a great idea to separate the sidewalks into two lanes. One being for skate boarders or bikers, and the other for people walking. Although this would increase foot traffic, it would decrease the amount of injuries greatly. The sidewalks would be perfect for this because most of them are very wide to allow service vehicles to move around campus with ease. Sure, it would take a little extra time to get to class, but cutting down on injuries would be very worth the extra few minutes it would take to get there. Another idea would be to restrict certain areas to skate boarders and some to walkers. Both of these, in theory, should work, but there is only one way to find out, take action!

I think this would be a great issue to discuss with the student government or school officials. Changes related to skate boarding on campus are definitely needed and I am sure that many people are behind me on this. I even skate board and I am for doing this. It endangers people's safety. Even though they are fun to ride, I am sure some fellow skate boarders would back me up on this issue. One would have to be very oblivious not to notice the obvious dangers that come along when people are moving at more than three times the speed of a walker, while they have no way to stop very quickly. Now that you have read all my reasoning as to why this problem should be a high priority in getting changed?

Sincerely,
Adam Stern