Join the club! You now are a unicycling martyr!
Unfortunatly your case looks a lot harder to fight…I hate to say it but that light blue section does apply…It’s still a stupid rule though…
I say you fight it and clear your name! They have dared to call you a skater! Are you gonna take that from them!? No way jose! Nobody gets away with calling a unicyclist a skater!
Fight for your money! But most of all, fight for your honnor!!!
You could mention how quiet unicycles are. One of the reasons people don’t like skateboards is that they are loud. Unicycles are quieter than someone walking! That is until you fall. 
What is the worst you could injure someone else on a path that you are riding along? I don’t see this even coming close to how much you could hurt someone riding a bike or a skateboard, due to the ability to coast.
Something else that may be a long shot. You could get a letter written by the officer who James said understands unicycles are safe and lets them ride on paths. I don’t know if it would do much good, or if he would want to write the letter but you could try.
Just something like, “we have never had any problems with unicyclists disturbing other pedestrians and allow them to ride on footpaths.”
Just an interesting thought that might have some bearing… a unicycle gets its name the same way as a bicycle or a tricycle. It would be a “cycle”, and the prefix determines the number of wheels. Instead of “bicycle” laws, why don’t they just have “cycle” laws, which would happily include everyone on a “cycle” type of contraption no matter how many wheels it has, and would make things so much clearer for everyone.
I think that just the because the name of the object in question involves the word “cycle”, it should be classed in the same category as other types of cycles.
So then I guess we’d be restricted by bicycle laws. Oh well, I can live with that. At least then I’d know what the law says and doesn’t say about unicycles so there’s none of these little suprises.
The fact that unicycles are quiet is a good point and must be a factor making them less of a nuisance than skateboards, because on the tiles of the New Plymouth footpaths in town, it makes a hell of a racket when skaters ride along. The police will probably argue that it makes for a bigger surprise when you approach behind pedestrians and pass them, and that unicyclists are going to cause heart attacks in elderly pedestrians due to their quiet nature and sneaky approach.
It seems that it would be most simple if that were the case, but according to this site, under NZ law a cycle must have two or more wheels, so a unicycle is not a cycle. I think it is because there are so few laws directly applying to unicycles that the Police have taken their negative stance towards me, because for so long they have seen me riding on the footpath and not been able to bust me for anything. Toni Haggart found the vague skateboard law and pounced on it before my submission to the council to review it could have any effect. I was stupid for riding on the footpath after being warned, but I still don’t think I was doing anything wrong. Ben has not been warned yet and he plans to continue riding on the footpath. I hope they won’t confiscate his KH24" without giving a warning first!
Well, for one thing young children wouldn’t be alowed to ride their tricycles in parks or on the sidewalk…
Did you guys know that in the Town of Mont-Royal it is prohibited to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk (due to pedestrian regulations), in the street or in a park…so, where does one ride a bike without being in infraction? On bikepaths…only we don’t have a bike path…
many of these by-laws suck haggis…I suggest you take a look a yours and have a good laugh…
Whooohooooo, I got my “skateboard” back today!
I didn’t have to pay the $70 fee, but I did have to sign an agreement stating that without prejudice, I get the uni back if I agree not to ride on the footpath, and if I get caught again I will have to pay $175 to get it back. I still think the Council owes me $35 and compensation for stealing my unicycle and holding it for ransom illegally, because they have not proven satisfactorily that it is a skateboard, and I have talked with a lawyer who told me it doesn’t fit the definition they gave. Apparently there is a law called Esjudem Generis, which I don’t understand too well, that applies to this situation and rules out the unicycle from their definition. The guy from the council admitted that he was not a lawyer, and had not spoken with one, yet he was the one responsible for backing up the police in their decision. I basicly called him incompetent at interpreting the law, but I thanked him for making the agreement and giving it back without the fee. I made him cross out the bit which had me agreeing that a unicycle currently falls within the bylaw definition of a “skateboard”, because that is rediculous and I will never agree to that nonsense.
I’m so glad to have my MUni back, I went for a ride with Ben earlier in the Park, and we went off the tracks and all over the place. It feels so much better to ride a unicycle with straight cranks/hub, and with a bouncy 24x3" tire. I should be able to sleep better tonight having my MUni back under my own roof.
Rowan, so glad to hear that your unicycle is once again safe and sound at home. --chirokid–
Congratulations on getting your skateboard back without the fine. It’s too bad that you had to sign that agreement, but at least you don’t have to pay.
And if there were a law about tricycles being required to ride on the sidewalk, it would amost certainly include my $4000 HPV that I’ve had at over 30 MPH and can easily do over 25 MPH on a flat.
Congratulations on getting your “vehicle” back! Now you are forbidden from the footpath. I guess that was the case before as well. I hope they have addressed the issue of how you get from one side of it to the other without being fined.
I believe everything you have reported. But the “whole truth” is always more clear when you hear both sides’ versions of any story. The ongoing danger in your case is why certain (nameless) members of your police don’t like you. If you aggravate each other, they could continue to give you problems in the future. Be careful!
I hope you will pursue the wrongful lumping of unicycles in the skateboard category of your local laws. In this case as with most others, it still seems like it’s best for the unicycle to be seen by the law as a bike.
SKATEBOARD means a wheeled device controlled or propelled by gravity or by the muscular energy of the rider, including roller skates, in-line skates, or similar recreational devices. The definition does not include any bicycle, tricycle, wheelchair, baby or invalid carriage.
OK. You have a few options to argue this. In their definitions paragraph (reproduced above) they cleary define two types of vehicles, ie:
type 1, skateboards:
including roller skates, in-line skates, or similar recreational devices.
type 2, bikes etc.:
The definition does not include any bicycle, tricycle, wheelchair, baby or invalid carriage.
Now she has put you in the first catagory. You could probably argue that you are more in the secondary catagory on two grounds - one is that a unicycle is a closer object to a tricycle and bicycle than it is to in line skates and so forth - essentially physical, objective reasoning - the second that the word ‘skates’ is repeated, so therefore similar recreational devices should involve a rolling, skating motion.
It can also be seen that the second definition of vehicles (the bike sentance) is definitive - it doesnt allow for ANY interpretation (except on bikes…but we’ll get to that later) - so therefore she had to put you in the first catagory (with the skateboards).
Now, there is a way around this. It means argueing that a unicycle, to you at least, is not a ‘recreational vehicle’, but a means of transport. It seems that the second catagory was established to allow for people using those things as a means of transport. Therefore you could argue that you fit into the second catagory on those grounds.
Next - In many countries, unicycles are regarded under law as ‘bikes’ - something that is pedal or chain driven, for example. In Australia I believe this is the case in a few of the states.
Therefore you could argue that the court should take into account this fact and state that NZ is acting inappropriatly in this matter and should take into account decisions in other countries.
the other option? pay the fine.
Any questions pm me/email me.
hope ive been of some help.
sam
(and yes, i am a ‘lawyer’)
Thanks. I do not believe I am forbidden from the footpath (even though I signed a thing that says I am), and I don’t believe I previously was forbidden either. I talked to three Police officers in town, walked past with my unicycle and said “Do you like my skateboard?” and all of them disagreed and said it is not a skateboard. I consulted a lawyer, who said that a unicycle definitely does not fit their definition of a skateboard. I talked to two Senior Police Sergeants who both think a unicycle does not fit the description of a skateboard, and that it is more similar to the excluded articles. The problem is, the second Senior Sergeant got legal advice for the Police, and the results are inconclusive because one source said that the unicycle doesn’t fit the description, and another source said that it does. So two lawyers, two senior sergeants, three policemen and countless members of the public all agree that unicycles are not skateboards and should be allowed on the footpath. Two stubborn police, one retarded lawyer, and one gullible council member think that unicycles are skateboards, and they are not prepared to prove it, because they can enforce the law without a judge or jury.
I’m going to attend a Council meeting tomorrow to put my case forth and try to get them to clarify the definition on the skateboard bylaw, because it is so badly worded that the police refuse to say one way or the other whether a unicycle fits. It looks like I will have to pay a lawyer to talk to Lloyd from the council in order to get my $35 back, the ransom money they got from my MUni, and that is no garauntee because they don’t listen to reason or common sense. Last I heard the bylaw will be reviewed between one and two years into the future.
Samuel, thanks for the advice, but the problem at the moment is that my case does not go to court unless I take it there, and I am too poor to pay lawyers fees, and I won’t qualify for legal aid because of the unusual nature of the case. I have tried reasoning and proven numerous differences between the two types of vehicles, and it seems to fall on deaf ears. The Police do not have to prove that a unicycle is a skateboard to take it off me, because they are authorised officers for the council, and the council can make poorly written bylaws for the police to misunderstand, regardless of whether or not it is in the original spirit of the bylaw, or whether or not I am causing damage or nuisance.
Believe it: unicycles are not skateboards
I knew it!
Unicycles never did fit into the description given. Yesterday I went to the council meeting, but found out that it was the day before, and that I missed out. Today I saw Lloyd from the council and he told me how he finally got some legal advice from a Solicitor, and he concluded that a unicycle does not fit the bylaw definition of a skateboard. He apologised to me for wrongfully impounding my unicycle for such a long period of time, gave my $35 back, cancelled the agreement I signed which said I could be fined $175 next time, and apologised for not taking my suggestions seriously in the first place. I’m so stoked now because unicyclists in New Plymouth are allowed to ride on the footpath or the road. If unicyclists are being extremely hazardous to pedestrians they can be arrested for disorderly conduct, but that has been the case all along, and since we do not behave in such a manner this will not be a problem! I can’t wait to be threatened by a rogue Authorised Officer so that I can laugh at her and say “I told you so!” and prove her wrong!
Congratulations! That is excellent news! I’m glad that you stuck with it till the end and that it turned out just the way it should have. I didn’t think you’d ever see that money again. It looks like you went about things just the way you should have. If you ever run into any trouble again, we would all love to hear about it, especially if you get to (metaphorically) laugh in some police officer’s face. 
Congrats Rowan. It is sometimes not easy being the pioneer. You can feel good knowing that you have a hand in helping pave the path for all future unicyclists in your area.
Did you get this apology in writing? Did you get the final ruling written. Politicians have a way of changing their position with the direction of the wind.
I didn’t get it in writing, but maybe I will ask Toni Haggart, the original perpetrator and theif to write me an apology. I asked Lloyd at the Council what happens if someone tries to take it again, and he said send them to him and he’ll set them right. Luckily it isn’t anything to do with polititians, because it is a local bylaw, it’s just between the Police and the Council, it doesn’t even make it to the legal system (unless there is non-compliance). I’ve been making the most of the footpaths, it feels so good to be able to ride where I want. Interestingly enough, in my consultation with a Senior Police Sergeant, she says that road rules do not apply to skateboards or unicycles. You can go straight through stop signs, red lights, ride on the wrong side of the road, not use hand signals and not wear lights at night, since there are no specific laws pertaining to those things. She didn’t suggest taking it too far though, because you can be arrested for endangering other peoples lives and stuff like that, but it is still good to know!
Far as i’m concerned, it’s really REALLY annoying. You were not doing any damage to the steps, chances are, if someone saw you coming they’d look, move out the way and watch in amzement, so you weren’t doing any damage, but then, that’s people for you! 
I did run into trouble again! And I laughed metaphorically and raised my 12" unicycle triumphantly as the Justices delivered the dismissed verdict in court. I wrote about it in the fines thread instead of coming here to dig up this old one but this has some of the old history so it makes an interesting read.
Makes me wonder what the police are up to- after swearing an oath to protect the public, why do they bother getting so caught up in nitty gritty red tape that is nothing to do with why they were employed. Sugra Morley- thanks for your efforts that made it to the high court!!! It made my follow up work so much easier without hiring lawyers. I should post his court case sometime for you guys to read it is really interesting.
I’m glad we are not classified as bikes. People can go places wearing a pair of shoes and they are not classed as a vehicle- so I think just because a unicycle has a wheel does not automatically make it a vehicle or a bike. I’m glad the Police finally took me to court and not the other way around. I don’t like starting fights with them but if they want to act up I’m not gonna be bullyed by them if I can help it.
I’d love to see a baby carriage propelled by the muscular energy of the rider. 