Yesterday as we were walking in our neighborhood, we saw a girl sitting on an electric skateboard and going down the middle of the street. I’m terrible at estimating ages, but I think perhaps she was a middle school student. Instead of standing on the device, as designed, she was sitting, with her feet tucked up close and resting on the front of the skateboard. She had what I assume was her cell phone in her hand and she was looking at it as she cruised down the street at a speed just a bit faster than a walking pace, perhaps about 5 miles per hour.

I looked at her and commented to my wife, “I wish she was wearing a helmet.”

Traumatic brain injury can happen quickly, when it is not expected. A pothole or a rough place on the street would have sent her flying. She was so low that it would be easy for a person driving a car to miss seeing her at an intersection. She could become distracted and run into a parked vehicle or a curb, or simply lose her balance.

Washington has a relatively new law that divides electric bicycles into three classes. Class one is an electric bike with a top speed of 20 mph where the electric motor assists the rider. The rider must pedal the bike in order for it to be in motion. Class two also has a top speed of 20 mph, but will move without the rider pedaling. Class three bikes have a top assisted speed of 28 mph. I don’t know whether or not electric scooters and skateboards are governed by the same rules. If so, I guess this device would be a class two vehicle. Even though our neighborhood does not have bicycle lanes on the street, it is legal to ride bicycles on the street following the rules of the road for cars. Our neighborhood has a top speed limit of 25 mph for all vehicles and is within a special zone where it is legal to drive golf carts on the street.

So it might be perfectly legal to ride a motorized skateboard on the street. Legal doesn’t make it safe, however. As a walker, I’d be much happier to see the skateboard on the sidewalk than on the street. I could easily avoid a collision with the skateboard by stepping out of the way.

As a person who works regularly with children and youth, I’d prefer to see the young person on a skateboard or a bicycle that doesn’t have a motor. I know how important regular exercise is for my mental and physical health and I believe that it is good for people of all ages. I remember the freedom that I felt while riding my bicycle in the years before I obtained a driver’s license and I hope that the youth of our neighborhood can experience a bit of that freedom. I also hope that they will be kept safe from accidents and injury. I didn’t wear a helmet when riding my bike as a youth. No one did in those days. But I always wear a helmet when I ride my bike these days. And I always insist that our grandchildren wear their helmets when they are on their bikes. They don’t have any motorized devices that they can ride, but I think a helmet is a good idea for those who are riding scooters and skateboards as well as bike riders.

There is a wide debate about what is the appropriate age for a youth to have a cell phone and I don’t have much expertise in that area. Our children were in college before we had any cell phones in our family, so the issue didn’t come up. I understand that a cell phone can increase safety by giving a way to call for help and a way to keep communications open. Cell phones also function as personal music devices for youth. They also provide a way to view videos and access the Internet. Without careful parental controls and limits, it is easy to use a cell phone to view materials that are inappropriate - something that adults do as often as children and youth in my opinion.

In Washington it is illegal to use a hand-held phone while driving a vehicle. If the young person was legal in operating the skateboard on the street, the use of the cell phone would make such operation illegal. Clearly there were some bad habits developing.

I can play the game of “what’s wrong with this picture,” as I recall the youth skimming along the street, sitting just a few inches from its surface while using a cell phone and not providing any muscle for the motion of the machine. The good news is that at least while we were watching, no accident occurred and the person appeared to have made the trip safely.

I understand that there is resistance to making too many rules in any community. People want to have personal freedoms and they don’t want to have to discern whether they have a class one, two or three vehicle. They don’t want there to be a manual of rules and regulations for getting from point A to point B. I suspect, however, that the parents of that young person aren’t fully aware of how the phone and the skateboard are used. I know that I would have been terrified if it was my child or grandchild. There is no way a child or grandchild of mine would have escaped a safety lecture after such behavior.

Safety, however, is a value that reaches beyond individual freedom. The entire community benefits when children and youth are protected from accidents and injury. The entire community experiences loss when a young person is injured or killed. We all have an interest in public safety whether we are talking about traffic rules or protocols to prevent the spread of disease.

So be careful out there, friends. Even if you don’t ride a motorized skateboard, there are others who do and some of them may be distracted. They also might be in places you don’t expect them to be. Keep the speed down. Look twice at intersections. Be careful when backing out of the driveway. I know I’m going to be a lot more careful when I’m driving the streets of our neighborhood.