Ban on Rollerskiing

[Greg Malia]

I just received a letter from my town supervisor (Town of Rosendale, NY near Kingston) that the Kingston High School team can't use the town roads for rollerskiing. No real reason was given and the town officials never talked with me about rollerskiing, its safety, our safety procedures,etc. I'm putting this discussion out there to see if anyone else has experienced such a ban and what you did about it. Also, so I'm prepared when I talk with the town officials, does anyone have any information about injuries and or death from rollerskiers colliding with cars.

Thanbks.
Greg Malia
Coiach - Kingston High School Nordic Ski Team

[Kelsey Boyer]

Hi
i live in fairbanks alaska and the same thing kind of happened. ours was a little more rash though. after roller skiing being fine year after year, a few people were suddenly being ticketed by cops. im not exactly sure what we did, but i think that it was brought up at the borough assembly, and when they realized how ridiculous the claim was that we shouldn't rollerski, they stopped ticketing us. try contacting john estle. he pretty much knows everything about what is happening in skiing in alaska. this is his email: [e-mail]

Kelsey Boyer

[Luke Siebert]

As far as I know, there are probably more incidents with bikes and cars than rollerskis and cars (percentage-wise). I've heard of this in some towns, but I bet if you talked to the town officials and the police you could probably work out some sort of compromise. I know in my town our ski team is discouraged from using the roads after an incident with a parked car, but there is no official ban on rollerskiing on town roads, because I do it all the time.

[Peter Breu]

Hi Greg- I am a high school coach and we train on very quiet suburban streets. However, my son is at a Swedish ski academy this year defering college for a year and there, they make all rollerskiers wear bright safety vests and ski against traffic. Seems like good ideas to me and these sort of steps might make the police or officials happier about having your kids on the roads. Good luck! Peter