What is your experience with the legality behind Electric Skateboards?

General Discussion
1

Have you been ticketed? Are you concerned with the fact that it’s illegal in most places?

2

personally, I’ve only ever ridden alone past cops once. there were like 5 cops and i just rode super slow by them and said good evening. they nodded back. other times its been with groups so they sorta don’t bother. I’m not really concerned about the legality of it as long as you don’t travel at 45kmh on a footpath and respect the pedestrians you should be fine. Sydney :australia:

3 Likes
3

I’ve only got called out by a cop once while I was riding. It was this passed Holloween and I was dressed as Darth Vader and he called me out on the loud speaker, “Darth Vader pull over”. I stopped and turned around to look at him and he waved and said “Just kidding” I waved and he drove by.

Other times cops have come up to us while stopped taking a break somewhere off the road and they ask us questions cause they think it’s super cool :slight_smile:

11 Likes
4

My local cops don’t seem to care. Only waves and smiles.

3 Likes
5

In my country they are not legal nor illegal…just tolerated. Forbidden to use on roads. Only pavement. In my city they are strictly prohibited. I’m the only esk8r in town. Cops know me, they know i am an outlaw rider and usually ignore me because i ride really carefully. Sadly some of them want action when they are bored and i run away to avoid fine tickets. Fines are 500€ so i don’t feel like paying that with a smile on my face.

6 Likes
6

Idk what the law is in Australia but I’ve ridden past a few cops and only been pulled over once with a mate and he was chill. Just said we should gets some lights and stay out of the middle of the road

2 Likes
7

Seen the police a couple times on my board, I stay respectful, ease off on the power and nobody cares, they are in somewhat of a “grey area”" in the UK, unlike escooters and “hoverbords” which are explicitly illegal

2 Likes
8

I’ve ridden in front of prob 10 of the area’s finest in the past 2 months. Only had one close call when I was on a onewheel in the road (20mph area, sidewalks were a mess) and in the other lane was a parking attendant who suddenly braked as I passed and turned their lights on. I was right next to my destination so I ducked into the side alley and vanished.

Pro tip (for USA), If their lights are green and yellow, you can’t get in trouble.

1 Like
9

My rule of thumb is if they don’t have a firearm then they are not officers so they cannot legally stop me so I don’t stop.

1 Like
10

Honestly it’s not really a concern for me. Most of the U.S. has had us in the legal gray area since the 1970s when gas powered skateboards came out. If you read any local laws on electric vehicles almost every state has the writing “with a handlebar” when describing the vehicle. What that means is even if you get a ticket it’s incredibly easy to fight in court because there’s no actual law on the vehicle you’re riding. This is part of the reason I have been explaining to people that electric scooter rentals are actually a good thing. Once again because it’s a public item all the cities are making new laws for scooters and meanwhile forgetting to write bylaws for any other e-commuter. Honestly I’d rather be in legal gray area then live in California where boosted made a local law pass for only 20’ish miles per hour top speed. They basically went and helped write the laws specifically around only their board, that means any of their competitors who make any faster boards are now making illegal products. Unless it’s a DIY company helping to write the local laws my opinion is keep the companies away from that stuff, it only hurts our community.

11

I think it was Z- Board (which crafted that law), not Boosted. On the other hand, we need a Cop among our forum members.

1 Like
12

Never had any problems except when I was told to stop riding through a college campus. Apparently bicyclists are fine but skateboards are the devil.

1 Like
13

I did some research when I built my first board and in New Zealand it is legal to ride a skateboard on the street but not if it’s powered (WTF?). Actually, that’s sort of reasonable since it’s a powered vehicle and that brings legal issues. Powered boards ride on the footpath/side-walk.

I ride on the street during quiet times, or on a main/one-way route through the city… no police attention yet.

1 Like
14

I had a cop stop me and ask for a ride. He was an evolve rider and couldn’t believe how fast mine was. The only other time was a slow down wave as I went past them. Qld :australia: