Hey all,
It has come to my attention, since my first attempts at building an electric skateboard, that they are illegal in many if not most countries/states. Unfortunately, if you are not a lucky citizen of California, the only state/reigion of a country which I’m aware of that has, as of today explicitly changed their laws regarding esk8’s, then you have probably faced this same dilemma many times before.
Government officials couldn’t care less, and I can understand, with all the other crap that they have made themselves fix in Australian Politics and Public Relations, our Prime Minister doesn’t sit down pondering about whether to legalise esk8’s all day long. In fact, he probably doesn’t ponder much at all!
Sometimes when I’m out riding, I have the tendency to worry about law enforcement etc, and on too many occasions, even in my home city of Sydney, Australia, I have seen people being punshied/penalised for the use of these wonderful Electric Vehicles. Right now, electric skateboarding is a “gray area”, and despite whatever the public says, I feel like it’s staying that way for a long time. Also, I have a constant fear that if I, or someone else does something stupid on an esk8, it would mean the end of it, as governments would then explicitly ban it.
The way I see it is, apart from NSW (the state that Sydney is in) being a “granny” and “backwards” state, there is no reason for the act to not be legalised. I would estimate tens of thousands of people would be riding Personal Electric Vehicles (PEVs) to and from work/school/uni etc. on a daily basis. And the government is fine with calling all these people as doing an illict act. Furthermore, this entire community which has been created from the ground up, including this very site, is technically talking about an act “illegal” in 90% of the developed world. Both Evolve and Enertion start with E, and also share the similiarity of being based in Australia. While not in NSW, they are in other states (QLD and SA i think), which also doesn’t allow esk8’s and many other PEVs. Just think about that.
Are Esk8’s the most safest transport/hobby? Definetly no! But akin to riding a bike, Ebike (legal in NSW), Scooter, Non-motorised Skateboard, they share high risk factors, and I would even argue, at safe speeds (max 36km/h or around 22mph) Esk8’s are safer than Skateboards and Scooters. Obviously bikes are a bit safer, but they go faster, and hey! “esk8” doesn’t exactly translate to “safe” in English. The people riding any of the afore mentioned transport options all acknowledge that risk factors involved, and are willing to take them, I believe that any damage caused to other people not using those modes of transportation is minimal, as it usually affects us the esk8 rider more so than the general public.
So to sum up (and to keep the post relatively short) I want to uncover the dust on the legality of this great hobby that has defined my life over the past year and a half. If you cannot stand the fact that your (potentially favourite) hobby is straight up illegal in 90% of the world, then leave a comment/like/whatever, so I can get to creating a change. That being said, there is a social contract that we will not do stupid things on it. Of course, nobody can assure that, but only when that happens should governments be allocating penalties. We wouldn’t ban all cars because one person is driving badly, and I want to establish this community so that we can hold up to a similiar resistance.
Thank you all,
-lasplaner