What is your view on the use of safety equipment? As a grant recipient, can the use of safety equipment be enforced at the skatepark?
The issue of safety in skateboarding is one that each community that opens a park deals with based on their own customs and tolerances. Those decisions are often based on state and local laws. In states like Colorado and Oregon, safety equipment is recommended or required, but many parks don’t seem to enforce the rule. In California, on the other hand, state and local laws generally require the use of safety equipment, and most California communities enforce those laws in varying degrees. The Tony Hawk Foundation encourages safe skateboarding. Skaters themselves generally know their own limitations, and they know best what safety equipment they’ll need. While local laws don’t usually list wrist guards as required equipment, many skaters choose to wear them as a precaution. We don’t require THF grant recipients to adhere to any particular rules regarding pads, we encourage them to allow skaters maximum freedom and flexibility within the limitations of established local laws.
