Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Question: Almost daily, five to 10 kids ride skateboards on Kalihi Street near Silva Street. They jump the skateboard, trying to make it on a ledge. When they miss, their skateboards come flying to where my car is parked along the curb. Skateboarding on
sidewalks is prohibited
only in WaikikiIs there a law prohibiting the riding of skateboards on sidewalks? When they're on the street riding their skateboards, I call 911 and an officer responds. When I tell them they are on the sidewalk, I get a reply saying skateboard riding on the sidewalk is prohibited only in Waikiki. What is the law regarding skateboard riding on the sidewalk?
Q: On Fridays at the Aiea ballpark, there is an open market. But the school kids skateboard on the sidewalk where people are walking, and senior citizens are not fast enough to move out of the way. Can you bring this to the attention of Aiea High School -- that it's dangerous to do that when the open market is open?
Answer: Skateboarders are considered pedestrians when they are on sidewalks, according to Officer Clyde Yamashiro of the Honolulu Police Department's Traffic Division.
By city ordinance the only sidewalks they are prohibited from are in Waikiki, he said.
"But as far as any other area, there is no language prohibiting them (skateboarders) from riding on the sidewalk," Yamashiro said.
Neither is there anything prohibiting them from doing maneuvers.
However, skateboards are prohibited from being used on roadways -- something Yamashiro says many people don't understand.
"They can cross the roadway, but they cannot ride along the roadway," he said of skateboarders. "That's prohibited." Violators would be subject to a $40 fine.
With not enough skateboard rinks around, it's no wonder skateboarders are resorting to sidewalks, safely or otherwise.
At Aiea High School, Principal Michael Tokioka is working with the district's Council representative to get a much-needed skateboard rink for the area.
In the meantime, after receiving your complaint, he said he talked to the six Aiea High students seen skateboarding in the area last Friday morning "to let them know what the concern was."
The students said they understood your concern and would stop, but pointed out that there were other skateboarders -- young adults out of high school -- in the area.
Tokioka said he is confident that his students would stop skateboarding in the area, at least during the open market.
"The ones who are not our students -- I have no control over them."
But he said his students agreed to pass on your concern to those skateboarders.
Tokioka said in the process of trying to get a skateboard rink built, he hopes students will learn something about how government works.
Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com