Oahu skateboarders would be required to wear helmets under two separate bills scheduled to get their first airings by the Honolulu City Council on Wednesday.
Bill 30 would require all skateboarders to wear helmets while riding in the city’s skateboard parks, while Bill 31 would require helmets when skateboarders ride on city streets and sidewalks, in malls or parks, or in other public spaces.
Both bills were introduced by Councilman Joey Manahan, who said he sponsored the measures partly in response to two recent deaths of skateboarders on Oahu.
In April, 16-year-old Reid Krucky died while skateboarding on a Hawaii Kai street. In May 2011, Kameron Steinhoff died following a skateboarding accident in Kaneohe. Neither wore a helmet. Between 1999 and 2008, 12 people in Hawaii died from skateboarding injuries, according to state statistics. No skateboarders died in 2009 or 2010.
Manahan said Steinhoff’s death in particular struck a nerve with him because his younger brother was a close friend of the former Punahou and Hawaii Pacific University basketball player.
"It’s been in the back of my mind for a while," he said.
Efforts to enact a mandatory helmet rule for skateboarders failed to gain support in the state Legislature in the wake of Steinhoff’s death. Manahan said state lawmakers might have felt that measure was too broad.
Manahan said he himself began skateboarding as a youth and used it as a mode of transportation while attending classes at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, although he hasn’t ridden one recently.
"There are a lot more people engaging in the sport, and the equipment has certainly become more advanced," Manahan said. "What people are doing nowadays with skateboards I would have never imagined doing when I was riding a skateboard a few years ago."
Reaction to the bills was generally unfavorable Friday among riders at the Aala Park skateboard park, where no one was wearing a helmet.
Waikiki resident Barnell Weatherby, 48, said he supports requiring youths under 16 to wear helmets when riding skateboards, just as they are required by state law to wear helmets when riding bicycles.
"After that they should know what they’re doing," Weatherby said. Government should not regulate what riders should do if they are adults, he said.
"I should be free to ride anywhere I want outside of Waikiki," he said.
Skateboarding is barred on certain sidewalks in Oahu’s main tourism district, including along Kalakaua Avenue.
Waianae resident Scott Jones, 28, said he also would support a helmet requirement at skateboard parks. He said similar requirements are in place at skateboard parks in Northern California, where he grew up.
"I know it’s a dangerous sport," Jones said.
Dev Lee, a 17-year-old recent Farrington High School graduate, said he hates helmets and is opposed to any requirement.
"Helmets suck," Lee said. "They weigh you down when you skate."
Lee said he’s used to wearing a baseball cap when he rides.
Lee said while he feels badly about the deaths of Krucky and Steinhoff, indications were that both were doing highly risky maneuvers when their accidents happened.
Kalihi resident Brandon Viernes, 30, also said requiring helmets is a dumb idea, although he said might support making the requirement for younger riders only.
"You’re always taking a chance," Viernes said. "You know what you’re getting into. People riding motorcycles should be wearing helmets first."
Not everyone opposes a ban, however.
Mike McFarlane, 50, said he was among the community members who advised then-Mayor Jeremy Harris when several skateparks were established in the late 1990s.
McFarlane said skateboarders of different ages and following different disciplines of the sport need to discourage "a culture where wearing a helmet isn’t cool."
Those who engage in downhill skateboarding, he said, are more apt to accept the idea of wearing helmets, he said.
McFarlane dismissed the notion that helmets should be required only of younger riders. "We all have soft skulls, kids or adults," he said.
After first reading, the bills are expected to be heard by the Council Parks Committee.
