North Vancouver resident Chuck Duffy used to find backing out of his driveway “unnerving.”
He now finds himself slowing down “dramatically” whenever he comes around a corner near his home on Glenview Dr. – ever since his truck collided with a couple of long boarders there in February 2012
“To see this kid, you know, the shock and fear in his eyes,” Duffy said, recalling the collision.
As he came around a corner, he saw one long boarder speed by, a second “clipped the front corner” of his truck so he came to a complete stop.
“The third one obviously saw nothing and just straight into the grill and across the hood of my truck,” he said.
Duffy immediately called 911 and luckily the longboarder walked away with only a few scrapes and bruises – but not everyone is as lucky.
On Saturday afternoon, a 12-year-old boy on a longboard was cruising down a road in Maple Ridge, when he slammed into a car and suffered critical head injuries.
And with the warmer weather, B.C. Children’s Hospital is seeing more and more injuries and incidents like this.
“Everyday we see children in the emergency department with injuries – injuries to bones and head injuries,” said Dr. Ron Goldman, with the children’s hospital emergency department. “Those are from skateboards, from longboards – those are sometimes serious head injuries that we’re seeing – even with a helmet.”
“Those can be serious and sometimes need a surgery for that.”
And unfortunately some of those injuries can “leave a mark on those kids for a very longtime – sometimes for life,” by affecting them academically or socially, added Goldman.
After Duffy’s crash he started a petition in his neighbourhood and managed to see longboarding banned from some North Vancouver streets (the activity is also banned in West Vancouver), but Duffy would like to see it banned across the city.
But if kids continue to longboard, Goldman suggests they always wear a helmet and other preventative gear.
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