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Abstract
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The built environment can exacerbate risk factors for illness and injury or be purposely constructed to contribute to healthy lifestyles.1 2 Healthy built environments promote physical activity, connect communities, and can lower the risk of injury.2 For example, when the built environment does not allow for the separation of motor vehicles from modes of active transport such as walking, biking, or skateboarding, there is an increased risk of injury, particularly among children and adolescents.1 Designing safer streets to reduce pedestrian and cyclist collisions with motor vehicles is an important strategy.2 Nonetheless, the current number of injuries and fatalities indicates that further actions are needed.3
Traffic control measures such as speed bumps, reduced speed limits and roundabouts reduce vehicle speeds and injury risk,1 4 but they do not provide a safe space for vulnerable road users.1 While separated sidewalks and bike lanes can enhance safety for pedestrians and cyclists, other recreational road users, such as skateboarders, remain vulnerable.2 5 6 Indeed, up to 65% of skateboard injuries result from riding on public roads, footpaths, and parking lots, and half of all deaths are attributed to collisions with moving vehicles.7
Passive injury prevention approaches can be an effective strategy to protect vulnerable users. Skateparks are an example of using the built environment to reduce rider-vehicle collisions and associated injuries.8 9 Building skateparks as an alternative user space has significant advantages, including separating the rider from traffic and pedestrians, ensuring adequate lighting, enabling the opportunity for safety inspections, and providing a challenging but more controlled environment in which to practice and perform tricks.7 They can also play a role in reducing injury risk. Skatepark users, for example, had significantly lower odds of a severe traumatic brain injury compared with non-skatepark users (OR: 0.58; 95% CI 0.54, 0.63).9
Skateparks alone, however, are not enough to protect skateboarders. For example, in 2016, 22% of skateboarding injuries in British Columbia occurred at a skatepark.10 Indeed, skateparks are typically unsupervised, public, recreational facilities designed for skateboarding, inline skating, BMX, and scooter riding, and they pose risk of injuries.8 They are often constructed of concrete and metal and include features designed to mimic street architecture, such as half pipes, bowls, ramps, and rails. The opening of a nearby skatepark significantly increased the number of skatepark-related injuries presenting at a hospital in the UK. Prior to the skatepark opening, 1.5% of sports injuries were skatepark-related and this increased to 5.6% following the opening of the skatepark (p<0.001).11 Fractures and dislocations comprise approximately 59% of injuries occurring in skateparks and 9% of injuries required hospitalisation.5 Injuries commonly occurred on ramps and bars compared to half-pipe or gully features.5 Hence, despite creating a more controlled environment, skateparks have not eliminated the risk of injury to skateboarders. Designing skateparks with safety in mind may help to mitigate injury risk.
There are few publicly available protocols to guide skatepark design and it is unknown if users' safety is considered when developing protocols and designing skateparks. Design guidelines highlight skatepark flow, smooth surfaces, regular maintenance, water drainage, and obstacle size.6 12 13 Guidelines seldom consider if certain features are associated with greater injury risks or how features promote increased speed or tricks that have varying injury risk. It is unclear how widely the few existing recommendations are adopted, if they are based on empirical research, or if they have been evaluated to determine best practices. There is a need for further research to identify evidence-based approaches to improve skatepark design and prioritise user safety. ...
Language: en |