Councilman wants kids on hoverboards to wear helmets, knee pads

Councilman William Greenlee wants to do something about the young users of the popular electric scooter balance board, nicknamed the hoverboard.

Greenlee introduced the legislation Thursday and is hopeful that it will get passed. If successful, the bill would require parents to pay a $25 fine if their children are not wearing any type of protection when riding on the hoverboard.

“It is pretty simple, children 12 and under must wear protective equipment which includes helmet, wrist pads, elbow pads and knee pads,” Greenlee said. “The reason for this, there’s been lots and lots of reports of injuries on hoverboards, adults and children, and we think it’s particularly important to protect younger children and these things are very popular. They were maybe the top Christmas gift this past year and you know there are clearly problems.”

The hoverboard has become very popular among millennials, despite being banned in certain places and catching on fire on some occasions. Some hoverboards have even been the subject of theft in the Philadelphia area.

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Dominique “Peak” Johnson is a North Philadelphia journalists and blogger. He is one of the founding editors and writers of the North Philly Metropolis, blogger for The Huffington Post, and staff writer for Al DÍA News. Click here to learn more about Peak.