The extreme-recreation menace

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Last weekend's warm weather resulted in a "scourge" spilling out onto the streets of Montreal. Not rats, not mice, not melting dog poop, but in-line skaters.

According to an article in the Gazette, Quebec Transport Minister Guy Chevrette called in-line skaters a "public menace" and a "scourge." Chevrette also said that in-line skaters were a problem for which he has no solution.

The city of Montreal has a solution--and a rather restrictive one at that. In a presentation to provincial transport officials last week, City Councillor Noushig Eloyan proposed allowing in-line skaters on bicycle paths only.

"The city feels that allowing in-line skaters to share the roads with motorists is dangerous," says city Public Works spokesperson Pierre Bonin, noting that when skaters take their elan to get up a hill, they take up more space on the road than cyclists. "But they're also a hazard to pedestrians because they move so fast."

At the moment, says Bonin, in-line skaters benefit from a legal grey area: because there are no firm rules on where skating is and is not allowed, police have been lenient. But depending on the decisions taken by Chevrette's department, that could change as early as this summer.

An estimated 600,000 Quebecers use in-line skates, a number that is growing by approximately 100,000 each year. :
--Philip Preville

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