Skating on corporate parking

[piggyslayer]

I was skating with my wife on parking lot at my work place on Sunday. We have done it many times before and security has OK-ied our skating. This time however we where asked to leave and never skate there again.
I have contacted manager of building security offering to sign wavers of any sort but I am getting nowhere with it.

After that incident, I learned that my company has offered an inline skating class for its employees couple of years before I joined it. The class was announced early, sometime in spring even though it was supposed to take place in August. Sometime between the time the class was announced and August security has announced that no skating is allowed on company premises. Class still took place but it was the last one and students were not allowed to skate after or before the class.

My company is not unique, I remember being asked to leave an empty parking lot of a deserted corporate complex by a person claiming to be a rep of company who owns the building. This was some 10 year ago. Since then I do not skate on corporate properties (vacant or not). I assumed, however, that I will be able to skate at my own workplace.

It looks like liability issues and legal regulations are taking fun out of everything. This sucks.

[milesb]

Maybe if you had left your boombox and spray paint at home...

[John Mason]

Skateboarders - most public parking lots or businesses have had to prevent them - so lets blame it on them.

just one small step from that to SNOWBOARDERS!

(just kidding - some of the finest people I know are snowboarders)

[SkierSynergy]

Recently, I have tried to browse the web for information related to accidents, lawsuits, and regulations that might impact Carver use.

First, so far, I have found not found any lawsuits that have been won by a skater trying to sue someone after using their property as you described. I have found references to some lawsuits (such as an inline skater that tried to sue a the TV show Law and Order for having cables across the sidewalk). However, the issue is that private property owners are simply trying to avoid any possibility of anybody suing them ? even if the chance of being sued is very small and the chance of losing is even smaller.

One of the exclusions for being responsible for an accident is if the victim was somewhere he or she should not have been or was engaged in an inappropriate activity. In these cases, the property owner can be absolved of responsibility. A lawsuit doesn?t even get off the ground in these cases.

So If I tell you "you can't do that here" and I take reasonable activities to keep you from doing it, then I avoid responsibility for your actions and you can?t win a suit and won?t sue me.

I am not recommending anything here, but I know a couple of places that always tell me to leave and then I just show up again another day. Every once-and-a-while, when they see me, they tell me to leave. OK good enough. We just play this game. Skateboarders know it well. Harb Carving is not a crime!

The openness of publicly owned sites is better, but also varies. Several cities have tried to limit skating on park-N-Ride lots -- even when empty on the weekends, but several cities have tried to redo laws and regulations to reduce the possibility of lawsuits on these sites.

Ironically, the only place where you don't have this problem is on public streets however many places treat skates and skateboards as toys in which case they are not legally allowed on the streets. So you can be criminally prosecuted.

The international inline skating association and the inline trade association has been lobbying to prevent unreasonable regulations and fight "Toy Regulations."

In line skaters try to align themselves with bicycles. Several cities and a few states have accepted this approach.

For example, here is the law for The Dalles Oregon:

Section 11. Sleds or Skates on Streets

The use of rollerskates or in-line skates shall be governed by
the provisions of the following subparagraph:

Any person who uses rollerskates or in-line skates to travel upon
a public way or street, or upon a sidewalk, shall comply with
the rules and regulations for the operation of bicycles set forth
in ORS S14.410 to S14.440, and S14.480, as now constituted. A
violation of these statutory provisions shall be considered a
violation of the City of The Dalles Uniform Traffics Ordinance.

I can live with that.

Every freshly blacktopped housing development is like a hidden ski area.

[*skier_j]

I saw a guy inline skating, in traffic, in mid town manhatten last weekend. It was also raining!

He was obviously going somewhere, not just out for a "stroll" so to speak. Appeared that he knew EXACTLLY what he was doing.

[SkierSynergy]

You are right on.

See thge following presentation (link) to a Transportation Research Board in NY by a guy from Tufts for a discussion of skating as an emerging form of transportation. There is some discussion of numbers of skating commuters and using skates as emergency transportation in places like NY.


http://www.trans.ci.portland.or.us/Plans/BicycleMasterPlan/appendb.htm

Also the advice from the International Inline Skate Assoc for people charged with skating in the street is the following:

"First, be very cool and professional, wear a suit and portray yourself as someone with responsibility. Indicate that you are not a "kid" using "toys" but an adult with a mission to commute from Point A to Point B. Tell them that you were using your skates as one might use a bicycle, something that is recognized in the State of Wisconsin as having due rights to the road."

[Harald]

Harb Carving or Inline skating on the streets and roads around Lake Tahoe is legal. We had a camp there this June when one of the local homeowners told us to leave because he thought it looked dangerous. We informed him that we took all precautions and had spotters. He called the police anyway. The police arrived, they told us as long as we were not obstructing traffic and stayed well to the side of the road when not carving that we were not violating any laws.

Each state and county of course will probably have their own laws, but if bikes and other man power vehicles are allowed on secondary roads, why shouldn’t Harb Carvers. I think some of the Loveland team coaches and racers ran into trouble on the side road off I70 last week. But again, I think it has to do with how many people are standing in the road and getting in the way of traffic. I have been Carving and been passed by Police cars on the same stretch of road and had no problems.

If you exercise proper behavior and caution most of these situations can be avoided.