CITOM reminds skaters on street ban

CEBU, Philippines - The City Integrated Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) board has passed a resolution reiterating the ban on the use of rollerblades and skateboards in the city’s thoroughfares.

CITOM chairman Rafael Yap said they have observed the increasing number of people, mostly minors, rollerblading and skateboarding in the roads posing danger to both the skaters and the motorists.

Yap said they have already apprehended at least six violators of the ordinance, the youngest of them was a 10-year-old boy. According to Yap, the number of children using skateboard on the streets is increasing because skateboards are accessible for rent.

Yap said a person in Barangay Ermita is renting out skateboard at P20 per hour.

City Ordinance 801 or the Traffic Code of Cebu City prohibits the use of rollerblades and skateboards on any roadway except while crossing the street.

The ordinance also prohibits any person riding a bicycle, motorscooter, coaster, rollerskates, or any toy vehicle to “attach the same or himself to any moving vehicle.”

Yap said CITOM personnel will confiscate rollerblades and skateboards of violators and make them pay a P500 fine to get the items back. For minors, they will be accompanied by their parents in retrieving the confiscated item after paying the same fine.

Yap said that contrary to allegations that they are trying to make an income out of the fine, CITOM is only doing it to ensure road safety.

He said that aside from skating or rollerblading on the roadway, children sometimes attached themselves to any moving vehicle, which is very dangerous for them.

“And that’s very accident-prone. These rollerblades or skateboards are never meant for transportation,” said Yap.

Mayor Michael Rama supports the resolution passed by the CITOM board.

Rama shared that his son is a fan of skateboarding, which he also supports by accompanying him to areas where skating is allowed.

“Sa una dinha sila sa Ayala, but gibadlong sila. So I brought him in Talisay City kung asa sila pwede ug dili risgo,” the mayor said.

CITOM has scheduled a meeting with some 300 members of the United Cebu Skaters, a group of skaters in the city, to brief them about the ordinance.

“Okay ra man nang ilang hobby. Adto lang sila mag-skate or mag-rollerblade sa areas na dili risgo ilang safety ug sa mga motorista, like parks,” Yap said. — (FREEMAN)