Find somewhere safe to skate or BMX

Hyndburn Borough Council provides areas where you can skate safely on boards and inline skates, or try out stunts with a BMX. These areas are at St James' Square, Accrington and Game Street, Great Harwood .  These facilities are located safely away from traffic and include ramps, rails and half-pipes.

Get the right gear

Protective gear is an essential part of skating and biking - especially if you're going to try big air tricks or if you're going to use public roads to get to your nearest wheel park.  Okay, so you might think it's a bit uncool to wear protective gear, but some of the stuff that's out there now is pretty swish, and wearing it sure beats getting laid up in hospital.

Helmets

Helmets help prevent injury to all areas of the head. The head is one of the most vulnerable areas of the human body - because it contains your brains!

Whacks to the head are actually the least reported common skating injuries, but the ones that people do sustain are often very severe.

To be effective, the helmet must have a snug fit, be buckled, and like mountain-biking helmets, it should come down to a finger's width above the eyebrows.

Make sure that you buy a helmet that is approved by a recognised body, and that it fits you right.  If it gets bashed or dropped, you should have it checked out to make sure it's still effective, and dump it for a new one if necessary.

Knee pads

Knee pads stop you ending up with corned beef knees and having to get gravel picked out of your skin with tweezers.  You should make sure yours are fastened on properly so they don't come off during a slide, which is when you'll be most grateful for wearing them!

Elbow pads

Elbow pads perform the same task as knee pads. Taking the skin off elbows is no fun at all - we've all done it, and none of us want to do it again.  So cover them up, and make sure they're strapped on tight.

Wrist protection

A common injury among skaters is broken/sprained/twisted wrists, often sustained by putting out your hand to block a fall.  Firstly, if you wear pads (see above) you'll be less likely to need to try and break your fall, but if instinct takes over, a pair of wrist protectors with hard plastic parts will stop you doing the worst.

Other stuff

Gloves aren't essential, but they're a good idea if you want to avoid any chance of sliding your hands through gravel and taking the skin off your knuckles.

You might also want to consider some reflective or light coloured clothing if you have to go along public roads and pavements to get to a wheel park.