I have to write about a controversial topic for my English coursework, it can be about anything and I want to do something I am interested in (unicycling). But I can’t really think of any controversial topics and so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas, it can be anything to do with unicycling.
I would appreciate any ideas, thank you.
I am new to the site so I don’t know if I have posted this in the write area,sorry. 
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How about: Are unicyclists supposed to ride on the sidewalk, bike lane or street?
The legal answer varies greatly depending on country/jurisdiction, e.g. in Germany they’re classified as recreational devices but are also allowed to act as a bike if they meet the bike rules (lights, bell, reflectors, etc.) and thus may ride in the bike lane as well as the street.
Subjectively, the answer depends on the wheel size: a 20" is more at home on the sidewalk and a 36" more in the bike lane.
Plus, there’s the safety: for the rider himself and other users.
I think if you research the laws for varies states/countries around where you live that should be a fair amount of difference and controversy.
Thanks very much for the idea, I will have a look in detail at this topic.
If that’s your topic, a lot of your research can be done on this forum. Here’s a recent discussion of the topic.
Thanks, do you know anything about the UK laws, or of any forums about the UK laws as I will be doing my coursework based on the UK laws?
I have tried doing a search but I don’t really know how to use it properly so I didn’t get any good results.
This might be a good place to start.
Then there’s always this to give you some ideas.
This is a popular UK pushb*ke forum. Have a look at some of these thoughts
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/search.php?q=riding+on+pavement
On the other hand, are you allowed to write course work from you what you read on t’interweb ? Some of it may be untruths 
Maybe make it even more controversial by asking if we should be wearing helmets whilst riding on road or pavement.
Hope some of this helps
This is fairly comprehensive, and probably a bit more reliable than some of alu’s sources - I mean you can clearly trust STW, but I’m not so sure about a gov.uk website.
http://www.bikehub.co.uk/featured-articles/cycling-and-the-law/
Sorry, no idea about laws affecting unicyclists in the UK. These are the sort of laws that would even vary a lot between different areas inside the US, and also, when it comes to enforcement, even between different neighborhoods of most US cities according to the ethnicity of the neighborhood and/or the unicyclist in question.
Legal discussions are often more interesting when comparisons are made between different countries, but that gets pretty ambitious for just a term paper, and besides, in my experience, stories of unicyclists being harassed or ticketed by police are common, but finding actual legislation that even mentions unicycles is quite difficult. One unicyclist even told me he won a large out-of-court settlement for police brutality after he and his giraffe were arrested.
Or if that topic sounds too messy you can try another. One of the things that always seems controversial (since 1989 when they were first introduced) is the requirement of safety gear for unicycle competitions. In it’s shortest form, riders hate it, but event organizers insist on it. Who’s right?
Have fun with that one. You can read some of the discussions (I think; not sure if you have to register) at the IUF website:
http://rulebook.unicycling.org/r/iuf-2014/welcome/index
That topic reminds me of the story of the kid in NYC who got fined, and fought it and won:
http://nypost.com/2012/06/06/wheely-rotten-teen-cited-for-legal-unicycle/
http://nypost.com/2012/08/11/unicycling-teen-gets-sidewalk-summons-tossed/
Though, these days, he would probably have been shot by the police…
Yeah, that NYPost story is in the discussion I linked to above, and I’ve heard many similar stories, but they are also summarized there.
The government doesn’t report how many people are killed by police in the US, so the closest thing to an official count is the Killed by Police Facebook page, which puts the current number at around 3 per day.
On that topic, if you happen to be unicycling where a mass arrest is in progress, you should leave the area as quickly as possible. Being conspicuous is the last thing you want in that situation. Thursday night they also deployed a sound cannon, or LRAD, and those can affect your inner ear -a real problem if you are trying to balance on one wheel!
Thankfully the OP is in a country where such things don’t happen so much.
Thank you very much for all the replies 