Longboarders crashing via WestVan PD video

[HKS PWR]

West Vancouver Police Department's new motto: To SWERVE and protect

What the long-boarders were doing in that video were both illegal and unsafe. That's clear cut, end of story. The ticket is well deserved.

The whole point of getting these kids off the road is because there's not much control of these long-boards and even less when it comes to braking, especially at the speed they were going at. Knowing this, the officer decides that swerving INTO their path to stop them was the best course of action????? WHERE IS THE LOGIC????? If this officer could not see that he was putting these long-boarders in harms way, he really needs to consider getting additional training or a change in career. An officer that does not have the presence of mind to act in a safe manner and in the best interest of the public should be in law enforcement.

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by HKS PWR

West Vancouver Police Department's new motto: To SWERVE and protect

What the long-boarders were doing in that video were both illegal and unsafe. That's clear cut, end of story. The ticket is well deserved.

The whole point of getting these kids off the road is because there's not much control of these long-boards and even less when it comes to braking, especially at the speed they were going at. Knowing this, the officer decides that swerving INTO their path to stop them was the best course of action????? WHERE IS THE LOGIC????? If this officer could not see that he was putting these long-boarders in harms way, he really needs to consider getting additional training or a change in career. An officer that does not have the presence of mind to act in a safe manner and in the best interest of the public should be in law enforcement.

Where's the logic? Because of this:

Originally Posted by KO7

If they can't stop quickly, they have no business going that fast where there's pedestrians, cars and pets nearby.

Just like a car or motorized vehicle, there are limits that are imposed that allow emergency stopping for a situation like a child running into the road. A modern car and even most cyclists riding at speed can stop pretty damn quickly, provided they're following the speed limit. A long-boarder going down a hill, however... not so much. Perhaps the cop stopping where he did was to prove a point that if you want to share the road with cars and bikes, prove that you can stop just as quickly as they can. Sure, hitting a dog or kid while riding a long-board probably wont kill them, it can sure still injure them (and the rider) pretty badly.

[vafanculo]

I'm surprised no one caught this, but it seems the cop did it cause he was frustrated with them. Didn't he say something along the lines of "I'm tired of you guys" etc etc that it looks he took an approach that let his emotions get the best of him.

However, that doesn't make the video any less funny. In a world where everyone responds to threads with "if that were me I'd punch them out" or "I'd taze him on sight" or any other "I would comments" people leave behind their keyboards, this guy did something about it..and now he's getting shat one.

Coin goes both ways for me on this one. As a cop he shouldn't let emotions take over and he IS there to prevent things at best as he can, but there's also the thought of these guys 100% deserve it and they are lucky it wasn't a huge truck going up the road.

Moral of story, I would have put a mini ramp across the road
Posted via RS Mobile

[subordinate]

Dumb move by the Cop, & agree that looks like he was emotional and over-reacted. He could have easily severely injured/killed them.

Flash your lights and sound, if they don't stop, pursue one of them and hit them with more fines/charges.

Simple.

[Recon604]

hmm cop has a pretty bad ass tatty

[LP700-4]

"Im sick and tired of dealing with you guys"

Indicates to me that same cop has probably caught them a couple of times already.

I dont blame the cop too much, yes there are safer ways to get them to stop but if not him maybe the car behind would have taken a left anyways.

Long boarders make no sense to me, they ride on the road obviously because they think they can safely stop well enough, then when a car cuts out in front of them they complain because they couldn't stop well enough.

[GabAlmighty]

Gawd that cop doesn't have much for a brain, just on a trip, especially with them dagger hands. Straight outa the academy.

Two wrongs don't equal a right, at least that's what I was taught.

[GS8]

Cop was probably fed up of dealing with them and was pushed over the edge when that one guy started to get in his face.

'Is that what you do? Cut in front of cyclists with your grill?'

Pretty sure cycling is legal whereas longboarding is not.

'Don't you have anything better to do?'

The argument of a self-entitled asshole.

This isn't even newsworthy IMO. No one was hurt, the ones who engaged in illegal activity were fined and again, no one was hurt. Common sense should tell you that longboarding through a suburban street is fucking dangerous.

[mb_]

That was a bit of an idiotic move by the cop but to me, the long boarders were more in the wrong.

[Rich Sandor]

Jesus.. all the cop did was move over slightly to the centre of the road. It didn't SWERVE violently in front of the boarders and cut off the road. I think the boarders over-reacted and tried to make the cop look bad more than anything.

IMHO the cop looks like he's trying to do his job and is frustrated by these idiots.

If anything the video shows why this activity is dangerous.

[tarobbt]

Hard to tell from the video, but did anyone else besides me notice all the cop did was block the road with his vehicle?

which in case makes the long boarders complete morons and proves the point that they need to get off their boards.

[HKS PWR]

Originally Posted by Lomac

Where's the logic? Because of this:

Just like a car or motorized vehicle, there are limits that are imposed that allow emergency stopping for a situation like a child running into the road. A modern car and even most cyclists riding at speed can stop pretty damn quickly, provided they're following the speed limit. A long-boarder going down a hill, however... not so much. Perhaps the cop stopping where he did was to prove a point that if you want to share the road with cars and bikes, prove that you can stop just as quickly as they can. Sure, hitting a dog or kid while riding a long-board probably wont kill them, it can sure still injure them (and the rider) pretty badly.

So your logic is: the officer has acertained that the long-boarder is coming down the hill at a speed greater than posted. He has likely surpassed the braking ability and may not be able to stop without injury/bodily harm/damage to property. Therefore, it's okay for the officer to stop in the way of the long-boarders, even though it may may cause an incident (injury to the long-boarder), all to prove a point/teach them a lesson and hand out tickets?

In my opinion, unless there was an imminent danger and this group of long-boarder needed to be stop then and there, the best course of action would have been to stop them when it was safe to do so (e.i. further down the hill). Just because they are breaking the law by speeding on a long board does not justify the officer to cause them bodily harm. He's a professional law enforcement officer. Those were not the actions of a professional, in my humble opinion.

Plus, stopping them the way he did, it just caused a whole clusterfuck of a situation for all the people involved. The actions of the officer is probably going to be reviewed and scrutinized (it doesn't help that he used some choice words in the video). As long as there are West Vancouver police officers on the streets, there will never be another long-boarder on the road again.

[multicartual]

The pigs will always abuse their power, this is why it is of the utmost importance that we all carry cameras when dealing with them

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by HKS PWR

Spoiler!

So your logic is: the officer has acertained that the long-boarder is coming down the hill at a speed greater than posted. He has likely surpassed the braking ability and may not be able to stop without injury/bodily harm/damage to property. Therefore, it's okay for the officer to stop in the way of the long-boarders, even though it may may cause an incident (injury to the long-boarder), all to prove a point/teach them a lesson and hand out tickets?

In my opinion, unless there was an imminent danger and this group of long-boarder needed to be stop then and there, the best course of action would have been to stop them when it was safe to do so (e.i. further down the hill). Just because they are breaking the law by speeding on a long board does not justify the officer to cause them bodily harm. He's a professional law enforcement officer. Those were not the actions of a professional, in my humble opinion.

Plus, stopping them the way he did, it just caused a whole clusterfuck of a situation for all the people involved. The actions of the officer is probably going to be reviewed and scrutinized (it doesn't help that he used some choice words in the video). As long as there are West Vancouver police officers on the streets, there will never be another long-boarder on the road again.

As Rich Sandor mentioned, all the officer did was move slightly more into the centre of the road. If anything, it helps prove that long-boarding at speed (or even higher than posted speeds) is more dangerous than the riders would want to believe. Suppose there was only one lone boarder going down that hill and there was a car turning left instead of the police car pulling into the centre of the road. For some people it's hard enough to judge the speed of an oncoming car; imagine those same people trying to judge the speed of someone who looks like they're just on a standard skateboard, when instead they're travelling at twice the speed than someone would normally expect.

I used to skateboard for many years and can attest to how hard those things can be to stop when travelling downhill on even shitty bearings. I can't even begin to imagine how quickly you'd be able to properly stop on a long-board with quality wheels and bearings.

[multicartual]

Most of you are such wet fucking towels

[rsx]

Actually looked like the cop was sandwiched between two longboarders, he didn't go into any lane. If he did he would've clipped the left or right guy. That old man child is annoying as fuck.

[freakshow]

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[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Lomac

As Rich Sandor mentioned, all the officer did was move slightly more into the centre of the road. If anything, it helps prove that long-boarding at speed (or even higher than posted speeds) is more dangerous than the riders would want to believe. Suppose there was only one lone boarder going down that hill and there was a car turning left instead of the police car pulling into the centre of the road. For some people it's hard enough to judge the speed of an oncoming car; imagine those same people trying to judge the speed of someone who looks like they're just on a standard skateboard, when instead they're travelling at twice the speed than someone would normally expect.

I used to skateboard for many years and can attest to how hard those things can be to stop when travelling downhill on even shitty bearings. I can't even begin to imagine how quickly you'd be able to properly stop on a long-board with quality wheels and bearings.

+1. Looks like the cop just moved slightly - not too different than what any other driver might have done if they saw 3 high speed "projectiles" unexpectedly heading their way ("Oh shit!").

[dvst8]

Cop did the right thing. He gave a preview of what could have happen. Maybe they learned a lesson from all of this.

[wstce92]

Good Riddance, I've driven on the road they're riding down a thousand times. Just ahead of where the cop stopped them is a quick and blind bend that meets a stop sign at a T intersection. With a big house and trees on one side, and a hill on the other, you have to slowly creep out from that stop sign in order to not get t-boned.
These assholes? They just blast through without even slowing down.
They weave from one lane to the other, zig zagging the entire way down.
I have nearly ran over one of these assholes over a hundred times.
They ride they like they own the road, they don't care about the traffic on either side of the road, they don't care about people walking their dogs, they don't care about cyclists, they don't care about cars pulling out of driveways.
Not to mention, they don't have brakes like cars or bikes, they don't stay in one lane like cars or bikes, they don't even attempt to stop at any stop sign like cars or bikes.

The cop should've plowed them all over. They serve more purpose as pavement paint than people.

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

there's two debates.

1. should they be longboarding on public roads
2. was the officer's actions justified

The answer to the first question is no because it's illegal and the public risk to others.

But I think the answer to the second question is also no. One illegal action doesn't make allowance for anothee.

this

2 wrongs don't make a right

doesn't matter if he swerved suddenly or not...he crossed into oncoming traffic.

It's like you cross into oncoming traffic by a meter or two or by a motorcycle coming down a hill speeding....you think the biker will be happy? Oh but he's speeding and it's illegal so therefore it's justified. Yes longboarding itself is illegal and so is traveling down past 50kph.

Just because someone is tailgating you doesnt make it okay for you to brake check them either

[meme405]

Originally Posted by wstce92

Good Riddance, I've driven on the road they're riding down a thousand times. Just ahead of where the cop stopped them is a quick and blind bend that meets a stop sign at a T intersection. With a big house and trees on one side, and a hill on the other, you have to slowly creep out from that stop sign in order to not get t-boned.
These assholes? They just blast through without even slowing down.
They weave from one lane to the other, zig zagging the entire way down.
I have nearly ran over one of these assholes over a hundred times.
They ride they like they own the road, they don't care about the traffic on either side of the road, they don't care about people walking their dogs, they don't care about cyclists, they don't care about cars pulling out of driveways.
Not to mention, they don't have brakes like cars or bikes, they don't stay in one lane like cars or bikes, they don't even attempt to stop at any stop sign like cars or bikes.

The cop should've plowed them all over. They serve more purpose as pavement paint than people.

:

[snails]

like a few people already posted. i didnt see a swerve, he didnt block both lanes.. and if these guys were repeat offenders then i understand his more drastic decision

thats not saying i agree with it. but he did nothing to endanger anyone. he didnt make those guys ride down the hill at 70+ km/h WITHOUT a way to stop in a safe distance.

if it wasnt the cop there and just a motorist just making a left without noticing the riders then the aftermath could have been much more dangerous if not deadly.

now, i skateboarded and road bikes for years. but i always went to designated areas because when you vs a 3000+ lb machine you will lose every time. regardless of who is wrong

[lowside67]

Originally Posted by snails

i didnt see a swerve, he didnt block both lanes..

THIS.

[jackmeister]

This time it was a Cop car that flashed his police lights (the boarders saw from far and stopped). Next time something like this happens it could be a criminal on the run or a garbage truck picking up trash, and the ending could be much worse. The amount of entitlement of non-drivers on roads (intended for cars btw) is alarming.

car/motorcycle - ALWAYS the driver's fault
car/bicycle - ALWAYS the driver's fault
car/pedestrian - ALWAYS the driver's fault
car/longboarder - ALWAYS the driver's fault
car/animals - ALWAYS the driver's fault