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Subscribe to RSSCAPE TOWN - One of South Africa's top skateboarders is facing arrest over a video posted on YouTube of him careering down a Cape Town street at a professed 68 mph to set off a speed camera, Cape Town city officials said on Thursday.
The "Spoofing the Traffic Camera" video, which has notched up more than 200,000 YouTube hits, shows skater Decio Lourenco, hands folded behind his back to decrease wind resistance, hurtling down the mountain road in fading light.
Motorists on the opposite side have their headlights on.
Toward the bottom of the run, he is seen throwing up his hands in jubilation after a GPS system strapped to his foot showed he had clocked up 68 mph in a 37 mph zone, local media said.
"We have handed over the matter to traffic officials and want him arrested," JP Smith, the Cape Town official in charge of safety and security, told Reuters.
"The speed limit is irrelevant. He is seen careering down the road in a reckless and dangerous manner."
The road in question, Kloof Nek, is one of Cape Town's steepest and has been used to host extreme skateboarding events, although only when closed to traffic. The city does not allow skateboarding on public roads.
The threat of arrest for one of their most celebrated comrades has the close-knit skateboarding community up in arms, with posts on the National Skate Collective Facebook page calling for "mass action."
"The city is trying to shut us down," read the page, which carries the popular skater tag-line "Skate or Die."
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
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Arrest and a heavy fine sound in order for this scofflaw.
No worries about that happening here since the streets are falling apart and you have to be suicidal to challenge the Grand Canyon size potholes.
Not very bright.
Its "careening", not "careering"...
That said, skateboarding puts no one at any significant risk, but the skateboarders themselves.
Very, very wrong! It can very easily spook other drivers. It's a distraction that could lead to motorist's accidents and even fatalities.
So can a bird or cat flying across their view. If they are that easily distracted, they have no business being on the road.
Something crossing your path, is not an excuse for an accident. If you drive off the road because a dog ran out, and kill people, you will be in BIG trouble. You must maintain control at all times, no excuses.
A skateboarder cant hurt anyone, all they can do is get run over. Skateboarders know the risks.
Absolutely wrong. Do you have any idea how much mass a person on a skateboard at nearly 70 mph has? A chink in the road or a stone could launch him right through someone's windshield or into a lethal collision with a pedestrian. You want to be a daredevil, do it away from public streets and people unaware of your intentions. He didn't have the right to involve innocent bystanders into his risk.
He could have hit a car and damaged it.
He should be glad that no one triet to shoot him !
The NASCAR driver Danica Patrick was recently taken to task in court for driving at an excessive speed. She claimed that as a professional driver, she knew what she was doing. But the point, Danica, is that everybody else did not know what you were doing. When you drive in a manner that is distracting to your fellow motorists, you are a threat to the public safety.
In this video, those cars driving in the opposite direction had to have been distracted by seeing this image coming towards them. It's just a lucky thing that there was no accident. Lucky that nobody drove off the road because they were spooked by this idiot kid.
You are wrong. There are no legit distractions. Its a drivers job to keep their eyes on the road, no matter what. If they get in an accident, no matter who drives by, its on them. Period. It wouldn't matter if a UFO landed in the field next to the road, and little green men came pouring out. If you get in an accident, its your fault. No excuses. If someone or something pulls infront of your car, you are suppose to try and stop. But you are NOT suppose to drive off the road, or into other lanes unless safe. That means you hit whatever is there, if you cant stop. That's the law. If you hit anything because you swerved, they will blame you, not the distraction.
The ONLY issue here, is the danger to the skateboarders. Because they present no real danger to anyone else.
How old are you?
I ask because that is such an irresponsible and infantile attitude which can only be held by someone with very little real world experience.
I agree with culheath. Sounds like MoreJustice has a hard time figuring out the laws of physics.
I think some jimmies have been rustled... @culheath rather than resorting to the "how old are you" card and trying to belittle what MoreJustice has said, you need to think logically.
While a skateboarder can pose a danger to others around them, the risk is so little, I'd argue it's negligible. (And before you insult or question my basis for this statement, I have passed multiple physics courses at the 4-year college level, and have been skating for many years. And as for "real world experience", how's having lived in two different countries and visited over 10?)
As you can see in the video, and numerous others similar to it, the rider is in control of what he is doing. Slides are used as a braking mechanism, and any claim that a pebble (or even a crevice in the road) could launch him vertically is incorrect. There is no vertical force being applied to the skateboarder or his board. At most, he'll be thrust forward over the nose, slam into the ground and slide unless he hits an oncoming car. He never crossed the center line, so that's not an option... unless the driver is crossing the center line, and that's not the skater's fault.
While I think that downhill skateboarding isn't the greatest idea with heavily trafficked roads, I don't believe he should be charged for a crime. I highly doubt a biker would have even been questioned about speeds like this.
One last point: he's a professional. And the only reason I make this point is because anyone who isn't could not make it to those speeds. As @Thomas Rourke brought up, Danica Patrick was dabbling into excessive speeds, however, anyone can mash a gas pedal. Also a car weighs tons not an average of 200 lbs, making a car a much more risky thing to take to higher speeds. Very few skaters can match the speed of this skater.
And this guy keeps bringing up the point that the skater is "spooking" the drivers in the oncoming lane. I'm hesitant to address such an outlandish statement. A squirrel, a dropped cigarette, a spilled coffee, a loud noise etc. can "spook" or distract a driver. I guess we should just make skateboarding illegal since it spooks you!
Reckless racing huh? It must be he did not have his feet belts on.
Apparently Skateboarding is a crime after all.....
Skateboarding is great and not a crime...public endangerment is.
Hans DaFonz,
I doubt your claims for several reasons.
But let's start here and test your physics acumen with a simple calculation :
What does a 180lb human weigh accelerated to 70 mph?
I'll accept lbs or kg mass increase in your answer.
Another question set:
You state the risk is negligible in part because "he is a professional".
Do professional race car drivers crash? How about airline pilots? Do professional skaters ever mess up big time?
If this skater wanted to prove a point about the camera triggering, could he not have done this when there was no traffic? What do you see as responsible risk taking? Do you think the innocent public should have no say in his willingness to place them at risk, no matter how negligible you claim it is?
Sorry to get back to you so late, but I was busy with life stuff.
If he had been in Islamland, I wonder what they would Chop off? seriously, no one was harmed so why are charges being filed and why is the Government so busy with small things like this?
The whole world seems to be afflicted with a "Petty" mental disease. I feel that we need to get back to the time where two people are handed a pair of Boxing gloves and asked to step inside a ring to work things out. Beside the great cardio workout, a person's anxiety level will be removed or at least decreased.
The media seems to want to perpetuate the levels of anxiety when the best course, might be to "Not Sweat the small stuff."