Bikes Not Allowed in Public Skateparks

As people know it today, kids are getting into hazardous sports like: skateboarding and inline skating. Kids who inline skate and skateboard get to have these public skate parks built with fun boxes, quarter pipes, half pipes, rails, and etc. for them for their own safety. Hanging off the side of the fence is a big sign prohibiting bikes from entering. Bikes should not be prohibited from public skate parks. The Bmx Riders Organization says, "There are over 7 million bikers in the US" (1). Adam Banton states, "It's absolutely pathetic considering that most of the BMX industry is here" (1).

As the BMX Riders Organization state, "In some communities, the number of BMX riders even outnumbers skateboarders"(1). In the article Believe it or Not, "bikes should be allowed in parks for the good of the community" (1). Even when biking started out back in the early 80's, "Some riders, looking to sharpen their riding and stunt skills in other ways, sneaked into abandoned skateboard parks to ride the ramps and do street stunts not unlike those performed by skateboarders" (Gutman 96). When any kid gets involved into a dangerous sport, they know the risk and occurrences of injuries. A quote from T. J. Lavin, a pro freestyle bike rider, says; "Probably the most common injuries in bmxing are wrist and ankle breaks on landings. All riders know they are going to be injured, but most have good hand-eye coordination and are able to avoid many crashes and injuries" (Gutman 106).

Gutman said, "Getting on the bike and expressing their creativity" (101), is a way to make kids fell good. Biking is even good for keeping the youth of today in tiptop shape. In the Bmx riders Organization state, "An average kid spends 12 minutes in hard vigorous exercise, in sports they will work or play for hours" (skate 2). That is physical work out in a sport that they can enjoy, but keeping kids out of parks lowers kids time to ride.

For the kids of this community there are no more options for riding, we need to be allowed in the skate parks. In the article Frustration: A Catalyst for Change it stated, "I knew one kid who got a $200 ticket and his license taken away for riding a ledge. It was classified as vandalism" (Banton 2). Riders are getting slammed with these expensive tickets, the kids don't have the money to be paying the ticket, or to even take it to court and try to fight it because then it will just cause more trouble. Then biking would end up with a bad name, having their bikes impounded, and their pictures red-carded.