Bicycles and cars on campus have sparked safety concerns for pedestrians on campus, but hoverboards are prompting new restrictions in California.
As the “motorized boards” gain popularity, UCLA police will ramp up enforcement on student use, according to The Daily Bruin.
California will allow hoverboards on sidewalks, bike paths, and roadways by 2016, but university campuses can limit their use on campus, citing several complaints from pedestrians about close calls with hoverboarders.
On the UCLA campus, hoverboards aren’t allowed on walkways, but the restriction isn’t always respected.
To an extent, the concerns mirror the debate over pedestrians and cyclists. Hoverboarders, like cyclists, save a lot of time by not walking. Pedestrians, however, have legitimate safety concerns about collisions, as cyclists cause their fair share of injury to pedestrians.
Hoverboarders, however, aren’t as likely to leave “an army of walking wounded” in their wake. They aren’t reaching similar speeds or commuting as far. Hoverboards aren’t widely used yet, and collision data is non-existent. It’s not clear that hoverboards are more than a fad, so safety concerns could fade within a year as hoverboards become the new scooter.
