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On Wednesday, The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to seek a bill that put the brakes on a practice known as "skate bombing." It involves riding down steep streets at high speeds — sometimes weaving in-and-out of traffic.

Michael Brooke, skateboarder and author of "Concrete Wave: A History of Skate Boarding," cites "longboarding," an activity that's popularity has spiked over the last two decades, as the cause.

"These boards can go at much faster speeds than traditional popsicle-shaped street decks. So what is happening is that people are using longboards to commute and to go from point A to point B, while some other people are taking longboards and getting into what is called downhill bombing, or just bombing hills, and sometimes skating with rather reckless behavior, and that's caused some grief for motorists," he explained.

The new law would set a speed limit of 25 mph on all skaters. And it would require them to follow basic traffic rules, like stopping at stop signs and yielding to pedestrians.

Over the last year, two teens died from skate bombing-related injuries. According to Brooke, fearless skateboarders have caused issues in Laguna Hills, and even in Australia.

"It's one of those things that skaters themselves know that this can be a perilous sport, but they're attuned to it in most cases and they know how to handle themselves. And therein lies the problem, is that some people getting on boards really should have way more training," he said.

Brooke said that while skate bombing could be very dangerous, its fatalities are much more minimal than other sports.

"If you look at the amount of bicycle deaths, or rollerbladers that die, or the people that die in swimming pools, there are actually very few deaths in skateboarding relative to other sports," he said. "I look at the injuries and fatalities in football and things like cheerleading, which has horrendous rates of injury, and I sometimes question whether or not those things should be looked at more carefully."

Brooke added that skateboarding is inherently rebellious, but only on a minor level. "There is a sense that yes, built into skateboarding DNA, it is a little anti-authoritarian. But it's not like it's anti-authoritarian in terms of people who do drugs or sell drugs, people who rape other people, there's an awful lot more anti-authoritarian, horrendous things that are happening, and yet there seems to be a huge amount of focus on skateboarding," he continued.

According to Brooke, skateboard has received this attention because skateboarders are an easy target, as they're simple to spot and mostly youth. He said that the best solution is for both sides, skaters and law enforcement, to be conscious of the issue. "Skaters have to own up to the truth, and law enforcement has to also realize that there are other things they could be doing than worrying about skaters out there," he concluded.

Guest:

Michael Brooke, skateboarder and author of "Concrete Wave: A History of Skate Boarding".