Skate Park Danger

I was sorry to hear in the Chronicle that someone had been injured on the BMX track and I hope they are getting better. There has been a lot of activity down at the park as a result of the Olympics and school holidays.

It does come back to my concerns over the Skate park we raised a few weeks ago in that all the BMX riders are taking over the skate park so skaters cant use it any more so we are now seeing them back around the town.

The injury is a wake up call and action must be taken. BMX is done a soil covered in gravel and as such not so hard a fall as concrete. BMX’s are using the skate park even though it states its for skate boards and roller blades only. The skate park is solid concrete with metal grind rails all around the park. While is can be dangerous for skaters they are restricted by there equipment to 15 mph.

On the other hand kids on a bmx can reach 40 miles per hour and jumping out of the ramp over 10 feet. If they fall from that height or hit any one with steal stunt pegs on the out come is going to be horrific. Falling on gravel is bad enough as was seen in the Olympics onto solid concrete with sharp metal edges is potentially fatal. We are talking about children as young 10 on these bikes with no experience or training or any safety gear.

I feel sure Shanaze Read would be the first to encourage children to do sport but would back a call for safety gear and training before doing these stunts.

The council has the technology at the park to talk to BMX ers and get them off the skate park. They must take action to ban bikes from the skate park with clear signs and enforce the rules. The bmx club should also advise their members to keep off the skate park. If they fail to do this I feel its only a matter of time before we have to read the sad news in the paper or serious injury at the park or worse.

On a lighter note the council should consider carefully naming the park Shanaze Read as its leads to comments like I am going to ride Shanaze Read and a few others I wont mention