Keep The SEGWAY Off Our Sidewalks & Streets! ------ #randum

[Brad]

Personal choice and freedoms are a good thing. I may prefer to ride a bike but if others want a
Segway then more power to them. Who am I, or you, to decide what these others will do. If it makes
them FATTER then thats their choice and doesn't have anything to do with you.

How about we let your representatives concentrate on important issues. God knows there are enough
problems to keep them busy without clogging the system with junk like this.

<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Noting good can come from this new personal transpiration device. It will
only serve
> to make Americans FATTER than they already are, by reducing exercise. Just what this critically
> obese society needs now, right?
>
> In addition, it will create hazards and annoyances on our sidewalks. Even
if we
> restrict it to streets (assuming such rules could be enforced), it will
slow traffic
> and cause hazards there as well.
>
> Let's take this singular opportunity to head this quality-of-life disaster
off at the pass!
> Contact your elected representatives and tell them to restrict this
useless, indulgent
> device to PRIVATE PROPERTY ONLY.

 

[Doug Milliken]

On Fri, 20 Jun 2003, Brad wrote:

> Personal choice and freedoms are a good thing. I may prefer to ride a bike but if others want a
> Segway then more power to them. Who am I, or you, to decide what these others will do. If it makes
> them FATTER then thats their choice and doesn't have anything to do with you.

Personal choice and freedoms are a good thing. However, if recent links made between body weight and
health are correct then overweight people (not specifically due to Segway!) certainly do have
something to do with me--through health insurance costs.

 

[Trudi Marrapodi]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Caddis
Marquette) wrote:

> Well, not even our Commander In Chief can keep this weapon of urban and suburban destruction under
> control. See: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030612/170/4dnhg.html&e=1&ncid=1756
> (thanks to Carlos at MeFi for this storyline)
>
> -Caddis

I read elsewhere that he failed to turn it on before climbing aboard. You have to turn it on before
you get on it, or it won't be able to balance your weight. So they say. I don't have personal
experience with one. Saw the inventor ride one, but only from a distance.

I don't have a problem with Segways per se, especially as another means for otherwise less able
people to get around (imagine elderly people no longer needing walkers, for example) or for people
who otherwise have to spend a lot of time walking on the job to get a bit of a break (postal
carriers, meter readers, etc.). And the idea of having one outfitted as a lawn mower is certainly
appealing. But I did notice that the recent article about them in USA Today implied that they
present a problem on sidewalks already full of pedestrians, in-line skaters, skateboarders and
bicyclists.

My question is, why are the sidewalks full of bicyclists? Get the cyclists on the road where they
belong, and there will be less congestion with the Segways.

Of course, that won't keep people on Segways from running over pedestrians, skaters, etc. One
wonders if one of the concerns people have over the Segway is that people who ride them will have
the same 'tude that motorists on the road do: "I own the path, and you better get out of my way."
Only now, instead of just having that 'tude on the road, it will also be on sidewalks.

If that's the case, we have to do something in our society to make human beings stop thinking they
have a right to behave like jerks just because they have a motor to back them up.

I did read one article that implied that the reason some are so terrified of the Segway is that they
are afraid it will replace the automobile...and that they have every reason to fear it will. Now
that made me laugh. Replace the automobile? Not a chance. Not unless they find a way to make the
things into the kind of status symbols cars are. And make it possible to carry all kinds of ****
with you when riding them. And not muss your hair. And drive the thing and drink a coffee while
talking on the phone at the same time (which all too many people do in cars). And definitely not in
bad-weather regions, for the simple reason that most people who spend their winters in sub-zero
weather prefer more enclosed and warmer methods of transportation.

No, I don't think the auto has too much to worry about in terms of competition from the Segway.
Yeah, maybe a few geeks in Silicon Valley will decide to use them to commute to work, but
that's about it.
--
Trudi "Just like Pagliacci did..."--Smokey Robinson
____
Say NO to secret judging and corruption in skating -- support SkateFAIR! http://www.skatefair.org

 

[Lanternerouge]

> Personal choice and freedoms are a good thing. However, if recent links made between body weight
> and health are correct then overweight people
(not
> specifically due to Segway!) certainly do have something to do with me--through health
> insurance costs.
>

You're overlooking the vital intermediate step: the state coercing you into paying health care costs
for other people. That's the relevant issue, not the choices of others to use electric scooters.

 

[Orval Fairbairn]

In article <[email protected]>,
"LanterneRouge" <[email protected]> wrote:

> > Personal choice and freedoms are a good thing. However, if recent links made between body weight
> > and health are correct then overweight people
> (not
> > specifically due to Segway!) certainly do have something to do with me--through health insurance
> > costs.
> >
>
> You're overlooking the vital intermediate step: the state coercing you into paying health care
> costs for other people. That's the relevant issue, not the choices of others to use electric
> scooters.
>
>

IMHO, the Segway is over-hyped, over-priced and under-useful. It will die of its own accord.

--
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Preferences folder.

 

[Bill Z.]

Orval Fairbairn <[email protected]> writes:

> In article <[email protected]>,
> "LanterneRouge" <[email protected]> wrote:

> IMHO, the Segway is over-hyped, over-priced and under-useful. It will die of its own accord.

It will probably find niche uses. For example, the last time I was in SFO, they had some police
there on bicycles in the terminal. They had to walk straddling the bikes in places due to the
crowding, and had the bikes in case they had to get to another part of the terminal quickly. A
segway could work well in that situation since you can turn in less space and just stand there on it
or move forward at a very slow speed.

Also, the post office is trying them for mail carriers going up and down steep hills.

--
My real name backwards: nemuaZ lliB

 

[Richierich]

My wife and I recently attended a Peter Gabriel concert. He used 2 Segways on stage. It was very
entertaining.

"Bill Z." <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Orval Fairbairn <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > In article <[email protected]>,
> > "LanterneRouge" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > IMHO, the Segway is over-hyped, over-priced and under-useful. It will die of its own accord.
>
> It will probably find niche uses. For example, the last time I was in SFO, they had some police
> there on bicycles in the terminal. They had to walk straddling the bikes in places due to the
> crowding, and had the bikes in case they had to get to another part of the terminal quickly. A
> segway could work well in that situation since you can turn in less space and just stand there on
> it or move forward at a very slow speed.
>
> Also, the post office is trying them for mail carriers going up and down steep hills.
>
> --
> My real name backwards: nemuaZ lliB

 

[Olivers]

A big part of the problem is with the proposed legislation. I did some review of the proposed
legislation in Ohio. It removed Electric Personal Assitive Mobility Devices, such as Segways, from
the definition of vehicles. It effectively removed PAMDs from all regulation by local authorities
while permitting them to use any vehicle related facility, other than certain higher speed highways.
Thus they could most roads, any pedestrian path associated with a road (most sidewalks), and any
bicycle path (since a bicycle is a vehicle). The PADMs were also defined in part as non-tandem two
wheeled devices having a top speed less than 20 mph, although the published max for a Segway is much
less. Local authorities would have had their hands tied in regulating the use of these devices.

The legislation as enacted, restores the right of local authorities and park and natural resource
facilities to control the use of personal assistive mobility devices, although the local authorities
may have their hands tied with respect to effective enforcement.

LanterneRouge wrote:

>>Personal choice and freedoms are a good thing. However, if recent links made between body weight
>>and health are correct then overweight people
>
> (not
>
>>specifically due to Segway!) certainly do have something to do with me--through health
>>insurance costs.
>>
>
>
> You're overlooking the vital intermediate step: the state coercing you into paying health care
> costs for other people. That's the relevant issue, not the choices of others to use electric
> scooters.
>
>

--
Cheers! OliverS When replying personally, remove "_removespam_"

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." HG Wells