Dubai: Roads, even footpaths or pavements, and some malls in Dubai are off limits to users of smart balance wheels or hoverboards to ensure public safety, police and mall officials said on Tuesday.
The clarification came following the death of a six-year-old Emirati child who was run over by a car in Abu Dhabi on Monday while travelling on a hoverboard. These balance wheels are battery-powered boards which resemble a skateboard or a mini Segway without a handle.
Colonel Jamal Al Bannai, Acting Director of Dubai Traffic Police, said hoverboard users can only wheel around in designated areas.
“When we say designated areas these are areas where there is no oncoming traffic or cars, that are acceptable to walk on, such as inside homes, compounds, gardens, bicycle tracks or parks. They are not allowed on roads or pavements because people who use these boards easily lose balance and fall on the road that could endanger their lives and other motorists,” Colonel Al Bannai told Gulf News.
Col Al Bannai said people using balance wheels are treated as pedestrians. If they are caught crossing the road from undesignated areas, they can be deemed jaywalkers and slapped a fine of Dh200.
“In my opinion, this is just a fad that may go away after some time. But if it becomes an issue and accidents ensue, we can raise this issue to higher authorities so they can enact legislation on this,” Col Al Bannai said.
Hoverboarders can opt to use their toys in parks, albeit not in jogging tracks or parks that have sports facilities, Mohammad Hassan Al Fardan, Head of Parks and Recreation Section of the Public Parks and Horticulture Department at Dubai Municipality, told Gulf News in an earlier interview.
He said residents can still use their balance wheels in sections of the park where skateboards are allowed. Proper signage for these is placed in parks.
For other public areas such as malls, Gulf News contacted several on their policies on the use of hoverboards but the majority refused to comment. At least three malls — Oasis Centre, Etihad Mall and Barsha Mall — expressed their concern for their patrons and said that they have rules in place.
Another mall on Jumeirah Beach Road has explicit rules and signage on this but declined to be named in this article.
“We don’t allow these boards to be used within our mall premises because we have big hypermarkets and people using trolleys. It’s not safe both for the children or board users and our customers. We’ve had this rule from the beginning,” Sana Gul, assistant marketing manager of Etihad Mall, told Gulf News.
Hoverboards are categorised under skateboards in many malls. And since skateboards are not allowed in Oasis Centre, hoverboards, too, are banned within its premises.
“This hoverboard recently came into the market and, as far as our policy says, we don’t even allow skateboards in the mall. It’s clearly written on the main entrance of the mall with a picture of the skateboard that this is not allowed at all,” a spokesperson from Oasis Centre said.
“We don’t encourage these things in the mall because they can be dangerous. We have travelators, we have escalators, so if somebody falls, he can get injured and we don’t want this to happen,” he added.