We were recently struck by the tragedy of two of our friends being struck by a car. Let us remember Shelly Mermelstein A”H  and continue to pray for the recovery of Micah Kaufman.

I remember as a boy playing stickball on the streets of New York on Shabbos and being publicly rebuked by a neighbor. Here on the car-free streets of Teaneck, I see small children carelessly riding scooters or bikes on Shabbos, some under parents’ supervision, some well out of their parents reach. This activity would have been unthinkable when I grew up. Most of the kids are not even wearing helmets, yet there is a law in New Jersey requiring all children under the age of 17 to wear them while riding bikes or scooters. Riding on sidewalks is generally prohibited. I fear the possibility of a delivery truck coming around a corner and encountering a toddler with no street smarts and leading to another terrible tragedy. Aren’t the bikes and trikes muktsa’? Parents might be required to carry them, even though we have an eruv. They are not in the spirit of Shabbos or a traditional Shabbos walk; parents who allow their children out on this or any day without protective gear, helmets and reflectors are endangering them.

Can our rabbis please issue a psak to prohibit scooter or bike riding on Shabbos (also, for that matter, basketball playing by post-bar mitzvah boys)? Shabbat Shalom.