People under 16 years old would need to wear helmets if they want to ride skateboards, roller skates, in-line skates or similar devices on Oahu under a bill introduced at the City Council.
Bill 62 will get its first airing before the Council at its monthly meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Owners of several shops that sell skateboards said they always encourage their customers to buy helmets and other safety equipment, but they either don’t want the city to make helmets mandatory or have strong concerns about the proposed requirements and liability questions.
Councilman Joey Manahan, the bill’s author, went back to the drawing board after receiving comments on two bills he introduced earlier this year that would have required helmets for skateboarders.
The bill would apply only to those under 16 years old. Parents or guardians would be liable for any fine, which would be $25 for each offense. Manahan said he wanted the age restriction to be consistent with a state law that requires bicycle riders under 16 to wear helmets.
Violators would be issued civil citations. The Police Department voiced concerns about the enforceability of the earlier bills because the state Judiciary does not have a system in place in Family Court to process criminal citations issued to juveniles.
While the previous bills would require helmets only for skateboarders, the current version would also apply to people who ride roller skates, in-line skates, "toy vehicles" and similar devices. Manahan said skateboarders argued they were being singled out unfairly.
The bill says helmets would be required when riding on public sidewalks and in alleys, malls, parks, parking lots and other public spaces. But Manahan said he is willing to hear arguments to exclude parks, and skate parks in particular.
Chad Hiyakumoto of APB Skateshop said he encourages all youths and their parents to buy helmets and other safety gear but doesn’t feel they should be mandatory.
"Fining me $25 is not going to make me skateboard any safer," Hiyakumoto said, suggesting sarcastically that the city should consider requiring pedestrians to wear helmets. "There are a lot of people that don’t walk very safely."
Hiyakumoto said skateboarding is an individual sport.
"Anyone who skateboards quickly learns that you’re pretty much responsible for your own well-being," he said. "It’s you versus the board. You control what happens when you step on that thing."
Manahan and others have cited the deaths of several skateboarders as a reason for requiring helmets.
But Hiyakumoto said as unfortunate as those incidents were, they involved extreme activities that could not even be characterized as skateboarding.
Mitch Parcels, general manager of The Bike Factory, which also sells skateboards, said the mandatory helmet law for bicyclists is not enforced, and he is skeptical such a requirement for skateboarders would be enforced.
"How many kids under 16 (riding bikes) do you see wearing helmets?" Parcels asked. When youths under 16 and their parents buy bikes, his staff instructs them about the law and recommends that they also buy helmets and other safety equipment.
But he contends the city and the state should do more in the way of public education.
"You don’t see any signs anywhere," he said. "You don’t see anything on TV."
Parcels said his staff also recommends that inexperienced skateboard riders buy helmets as well, regardless of their age.
Like Hiyakumoto, however, Parcels said he’s against requiring people to wear the equipment.
Chuck Mitsui, founder of the nonprofit Association of Skateboarders in Hawaii and owner of skateboard shop 808 Skate, said he supports the helmet requirement, although he has strong concerns about parts of Manahan’s latest bill.
One has to do with the helmet specifications.
"Some of the helmets that carry these certifications do not adequately cover the back of the wearer’s head," Mitsui said. "Most injuries to skateboarders occur in the back of the head."
Mitsui said he worries about the liability exposure that would cause the city.
He also opposes requiring that those under 16 have to wear the helmets in skate parks. He said that due to liability concerns imposed by a helmet requirement, the city may be forced to hire people to monitor the parks for compliance. The added expense could lead to the shutdown of some of the skate parks, he said.
