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economist sunsuntribune community saturday may 15 2004 supervised parks may be responsible for low accident level among york region skateboarders by joan ransberry staff writer a growing number of skate board accidents has many communities concerned as the freestyle sport becomes more and more popular it seems however york region youth are way ahead of the game when it comes to safety and other communities are looking to adopt whatever steps are being taken to keep boarders from getting hurt its not only cool to wear hel mets and pads while skateboard ing in york region the gear appears to be keeping children safe skateboarding is a multimil liondollar industry where kids drop more than 50 for a boarder tshirt and at least 100 to 150 for moderate skateboard shoes or a board at trendy specialty shops with about one million children and teenagers in canada skate boarding the sport is more than a passing trend and while thousands of young people in york region have taken to the freespirit recreational activi ty skateboarding casualties are not turning up in local hospital emer gency rooms we rarely see kids injured skateboarding markham stouffville hospital chief of emer gency medicine dr david austin said dr austin pays attention to the causes of common injuries we still see a lot of kids from skiing accidents and also from snowboarding injuries in the sum- mer kids still fall off their bikes but we just dont get the skate boarders dr austin said dr austin attributes the low accident rate associated with skateboarding to the fact many kids skateboard at municipally run parks where theres supervision and helmets are mandatory thats my gut feeling i dont have the formal data to back it up but thats what im thinking dr austin said dr gary joubert of london on is one physician interested in how skateboarding is handled in york region due to a high number of skateboard injuries showing up at childrens hospital of western ontario dr joubert and a colleague recently carried out a study in the london area involving five skate board parks what they found is none of the london and area skateboard parks had supervision results showed in four of the parks only 10 per cent of boarders wore helmets while one of the parks had a mandatory helmet rule there was only a 17percent compliance rate dr joubert reported why london boarders complained safety equipment was too expen sive and made them look like a geek hats off to york region they also insisted equipment including helmets knee and elbow pads and wrist guards get in the way of performing tricks dr joubert said my hat goes off to york region for having supervised skateboard parks dr joubert said its fabulous at a time when budget cuts in leisure services are common its great to hear that the municipalities in york region are wise enough to keep the supervi sion in the skateboard parks if the injuries are not showing up the key factor is likely the supervision at the parks skateboarding injuries can be dangerous dr joubert stressed a broken bone will heal he said but weve had significant head injuries and unfortunately some kids have required neurolog ical intervention skateboarding is similar to bike riding dr austin said in canada close to 2000 chil dren are hospitalized and 30 are killed each year from bike acci dents four in five of these deaths v its p 111 fir iba mi imsk twill s us s orsa v i n pifes staff photosjoerd witteveen luke jones 7 of newmarket shows his stuff on a skateboard with the appropriate safety gear at the newmarket youth and recreation centre and sk8 park on charles street in newmarket are due to head injuries the vast majority of serious bike accidents involve children who are not wearing helmets dr austin stressed with skateboarding there is a potential for serious head injury thats why the helmet is needed and that message comes out loud and clear at many local parks got wheels get a helmet is the message from the town of newmarket the helmet is a must wear at newmarkets indoor skateboard park on charles street pat mcintosh programmer with the towns parks recreation and culture department stressed we also strongly recommend that the children wear elbow and knee pads and wrist guards mrs mcintosh said skateboarding is becoming increasingly popular mrs mcintosh said when practised safely including the use of protec tive equipment skateboarding is a fun healthy sport she said a well supervised facility com plete with rules especially those covering head gear plays a role in keeping the serious injury rate down mrs mcintosh suggested i think our skateboard park helps keep the kids safe she said to improve skateboarding safe ty a growing number of communi ties provide supervised skateboard parks with professionally designed bowls and ramps or other desig nated areas located away from motor vehicles and pedestrian traf fic two such parks are presently under construction in york region a 200000 outdoor skateboard park is slated to be ready for use in georgina in august while con struction of a similar facility is under way at mccowan road and bullock drive in markham its a first for markham said lori wells manager of programs for the towns recreation and cul ture services department once opened markhams outdoor skate board park will be a real show piece ms wells said attractingkids from all over ontario whitchurchstourrvilles over the edge skatepark has been a going concern for five years not only is it mandatory to wear a hel met at the outdoor facility protec tive elbow and knee gear also must be worn tom graham director of wwtchurchstouffvilles leisure services oversees over the edge mr graham is especially proud of the staff not only does the town staff enforce the rules staff mem bers know how to respond in the event of an accident our staff is trained in first aid mr graham said weve had a few scrapes and bruises we had a wrist injury were on top of things as time passes more and more kids abandon the streets when they discover the best place to skateboard is at a specially designed facility more and more kids are com ing in from the streets to use the parks doug pilkey manager of the skateboard park in vaughan said skateboarding has caught on and the park is the place to be its the people that make the difference patrick cheng service counsellor patrick and his family have called markham home for many years prior to being an administrator at a local church patrick was an underwriter and held supervisory positions in the insurance industry patrick has a caring and compassionate heart and an ability to make sure all the details are looked after his chinese language skills and knowledge of cultural traditions have made him a highly respected service counsellor chapel ridge funeral ho me 9053058508 family owned by eric and susanne tappenden 8911 woodbine avenue 3 blocks north of hwy 7 markham ontario l3r sgi infochapelridgefhcom vywwchapelridgefhcom a caring part op our community