Letter

Dear Nico Vallorani,
Being a very large campus, UCF takes a long time to cross. It can take up to half an hour to go from Hercules to the Towers. There are only a few ways to get around quicker, biking, skating and long boarding. Many people enjoy long boarding yet some are looking to have it banned on campus.

I have played hockey since I was 8 years so rollerblading was an option. After weighing out the pros and cons I realized that roller skating would be more of an inconvenience than it is worth. I would have to tie my skates and skate all the way to class while carrying an extra bag for my shoes. Then when I get there I would have to untie my skates and change into my shoes before I go into class. The whole charade would take almost as long as walking. I have also considered riding my bike. However, there are also too many cons in my opinion. After riding to class there is the hassle of trying to find a place to safely park it and lock it to.

Therefore the quickest and most logical way to get to class is to long board. By long boarding I can get from Hercules to the Towers in approximately 8 minutes. Also by long boarding I eliminate the problem of changing my shoes and parking my bike. I simply take my long board wherever I go. I can even take it into class. Until my freshman year of college I had never skate boarded. I could barely step on a skate board without falling, but when I moved up to college my older brother gave me his long board to use and I learned with ease.

The debate about banning long boards has key points on each side. Many people who are in favor of banning them have ill feelings toward them from personal experience. Their strongest argument is the danger of them. There are some instances where people have become severely injured riding them. The worst case scenario is when an innocent bystander gets injured. Yes, injuries from long boarding would disappear if they were banned. But at what cost? The number of people who have been affected by this is so trivial it doesn’t even deserve debate. You can not just ban something to stop injuries. 1.2 million people died of car crashes worldwide in 2007. This is a significant number of people but it would still be crazy to even mention banning cars. If people paid more attention to their surroundings then everyone would be much safer.

Every action has hidden consequences. Any economics student can tell you that. If a city spends more money to hire more police officers, there will be less crime on the streets. However, you must think, where did that money come from? Most likely from the public schools budget. As schooling goes down, crime goes up. Therefore in the long run hiring more cops has created more crime. Before a decision is made you must weigh out all the circumstances. Long boarding is connected to other events the same as animals are connected to each other. If there becomes too many or to few of a certain species it creates an interruption in the balance and equilibrium of nature. The same goes for transportation on campus. If long boarding was canceled then there would be too much traffic for bikers or more bikers and cashes resulting in it. All in all it would be much better to keep long boarding legal on the UCF campus.