Commentary: Skateboarding on Campus

Here at UCF there is a major issue going on. This issue has to do with skateboarding on campus. Many people use skateboarding for transportation around campus, and some use them just for fun. You wouldn't think this is a big problem, but if you were a UCF student for a day you would understand. Walking to and from classes can be a complete nightmare, due to having to watch out for skateboarders the whole time. Not only people who walk to class are getting hurt, the skateboarders are too. I witnessed this first-hand on my first day here at UCF by breaking my elbow skateboarding. Obviously this is a severe problem that needs to be addressed, but there are some disagreements over whether skateboarding should be only regulated somehow, or completely abolished.

From the perspective of a pedestrian, it is very nerve-wracking getting to class. One constantly has to watch out for skateboarders. While walking to class, people walking will hear the sound of the impending doom of a skateboarder rolling over the cracks in the sidewalk behind them. Then the person has to decide to move over or stay in the same place and hope for the best. Then once the skateboarder, hopefully, passes him or her, one can take a sigh of relief because they survived that one. After that, the person has to go through that over and over until they reach their destination. This can cause one to take more time to get to class and possibly be late. Also, if the skateboarder collides with the pedestrian, it can cause major injuries. The skateboarder can fall and hurt themselves, or the pedestrian can get hit and both of them can possibly get hurt. I personally experienced this on the first day, when I moved on campus. I was riding down a small incline that had a curb on the side, when there were too many people on campus to do it safely. I was going too fast to stop and was rolling directly towards a woman coming up the hill. At that point I had to make a quick decision and I decided to go between the woman and the curb. There was not enough space, and I hit the curb. It was literally downhill from there. I landed on my left arm and snapped a bone in my elbow by landing on the curb. Without skateboarders on campus, we would be without a lot of injuries. People wouldn't go through so much stress doing as little as walking from one place to another. All in all, campus would be a lot more safe and peaceful.

Although, from the eyes of a skateboarder, it is a completely different story. As told by many students I have talked to, skateboarding is a great way of transportation. One can get to class ten times quicker than walking. Not only is it time efficient, but it is very fun and exhilarating. The feeling of going fast, with little effort, and the wind blowing through your hair is great, says a UCF student that skateboards to class. The thing that walkers don't understand though, is that if they hear or see a skateboarder coming at them, the best thing to do is stay where you are at. The skateboarder already has the route that they are going to use to get around the next crowd laid out in their mind, so moving would mess that up and cause a collision. A lot of times when there is an accident that involves a skateboarder and a pedestrian, it is partly the pedestrian's fault just as much as it is the skateboarder's fault. Skateboarding is not that big of a problem from the skateboarder's eyes. If a skateboarder is being smart about riding and not being irresponsible about it, that person will have less of a chance of getting injured or injuring someone else. If skateboarding is eradicated, the only ones that will be punished are the responsible ones.

With all of that said, there are some possible ways that this can be resolved. Some ways could make one group happy and the other group not, while some could be a happy medium that both groups would be happy with. One idea that could well be a possibility is the school could ban skateboarding altogether. This would cease almost all skateboard related injuries, but make the skateboarding group very unhappy. Another idea I got from skateboarders that I talked to was to not allow skateboarding on the narrow sidewalks, but split the wider sidewalks into two separate lanes, one being for skateboards and the other for pedestrians. This would be a good happy medium for both skateboarders and non-skateboarders. Another idea I came across was not allowing skateboarders to ride during peak times of the day, or in certain areas in campus in which wrecks happen often.

Furthermore, both skateboarders and pedestrians have their own valid opinions about this issue and how it can possibly be resolved. These possible resolutions can either help or hurt one side or the other. This is done by eradicating skateboarding or establishing a compromise between both sides. Either way, the issue of allowing or denying skateboarding on campus is an issue that needs to be addressed and resolved as soon as possible, before any other major incidents occur such as injuries due to collisions or skateboarders falling on their own.