Safety is crucial when skating on the street. You never know what's going to happen next.
Skate with the traffic, obey traffic signals, and wear helmet if you have one.
Being a transportation method in between pedestrian and non-motorized vehicle, skaters are in a unique position on the road. The laws and regulations often don't know what to do with us. It is up to ourselves to respect the street, and keep everyone and ourselves safe.
Ideally, skaters should be on the bikeways. When that's not possible, hop on the pavement. Make sure to go slower and respect the pedestrians.
Sharing the road with motor vehicles is dangerous. Use your common sense for this one. Be especially aware of the vehicles that come from behind you, as we don't have rearview mirrors to see what's behind us.
When two moving individuals need to dodge each other, it's the faster one's responsibility to move out of the way. Therefore, when facing against a pedestrian, you need to be the one moving away. When facing against a bike, slow down, skate defensively, and let the bike dodge you.