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Segway General Discussion General discussion related to any model of Segways, miniPROs, or Ninebots. Please do not post non-Segway technology posts here; use the technology forum instead.

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Old 03-27-2017, 02:22 PM   #21
Pescador12
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Actually, the old Segway was purchased for its patents. Segway was suing a number of companies for patent violations. U.S. Customs was seizing products imported from other countries for violating the patents. The new owners got the patent rights, and Segway's reputation for reliability came along for the ride.



There have been injuries, to be sure, and almost every one of those was caused by the rider themselves, not the machine. Most ATV injuries are caused in the same way.

Maybe think of the old epitaph, "Hold my beer and watch this!", the next time you are doing jumps on your ATV.
Yeah, operator error. Part of the fun is learning what the machines can do and not do.

Forums and YouTube are good for this. Good, as you don't personally have to experience every pitfall to learn what the machine can't do. You can see other riders being sidelined and avoid their errors.

The epitaph I like is "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming -- WOW-- What a Ride!"

Safe or not, the mini pro tours are interesting. Start a business with less investment than the price of a new midsize car. And you ride Segways for a living.
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Old 03-27-2017, 08:27 PM   #22
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The epitaph I like is "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming -- WOW-- What a Ride!"
Yeah, that's exactly what happens to lots of folks alright! - Many of them at age 25 or 30

One of the reasons it took so long to bring the original Segway to the market was they kept finding things that could possibly cause the machine to toss the rider off, so they went to work engineering a solution to those problems. The final result was a machine which is about as safe as a bicycle - When the rider ends up on the ground, 99.9% of the time it was an operator error and not something caused by the machine

There are all sorts of 'Segway Laws' around the country and I suppose around the world as well. Most any locality can pass a law and get it on the books without needing any real proof of anything. Some cities will allow you to ride bicycles on sidewalks and some won't - The bicycles are the same, only the location is different. Segway laws are similar and probably enacted for the same reasons. When you have the public walking at 2 or 3 miles per hour and someone operating a Segway or a bicycle at 10 or 12 miles per hour, the very real possibility exists that a collision may occur, especially since the 'vehicle' is silently approaching pedestrians from the rear and they have no rear view mirrors to warn them they are being overtaken

When we ride on sidewalks (and we do that a lot) we always slow to pedestrian speed and never attempt to pass until the pedestrian knows we are there - Once they see us, they almost always step to one side so we can safely pass

When you find 'laws' which say Segway tour operators are OK to use the venue but individual owners are not, it's usually to protect the tour business I suspect and not any indication that riders who own their own Segways are less safe - Actually, the opposite it true. As someone who first rode a Seg on a tour, I can assure you that many tour riders are people who have never set foot on a Seg before and many of them are barely able to maintain control, let alone take any evasive action to avoid a problem of any kind. After owning your own Seg for 6 months or a year, you are easily 10 or 20 times better at controlling it than you were on your first ride - Similar to you on your 4 wheeler I suspect

When you think about it, Segs must be pretty darned safe and fool-proof to enable tour operators to guide a bunch of often older rookies who haven't set foot on a Seg before the day of the tour. Many of them probably haven't even ridden a bicycle for the past 20 or 30 years. Yet they safely take to the sidewalks after watching a 10 minute video and getting a single 10 minute training session on the Seg. If you were 50 or 60 years of age and had never thrown a leg over a bicycle, you wouldn't be off riding the sidewalks after only 20 minutes of training!

For senior citizens, Segways are much safer and easier to control than a bicycle and I suspect most people would say the bicycle is a fairly safe device

Don

Last edited by Don M; 03-27-2017 at 08:34 PM..
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Old 04-01-2017, 11:56 PM   #23
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I would love to know who ensures the minipro for tours
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Old 04-09-2017, 12:42 PM   #24
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I would love to know who ensures the minipro for tours
Look into insurance companies that specialize in insuring businesses. I think the business is insured for catastrophic loss, not the mini pros. Their damage and destruction is just part of the cost of doing business.

The onsite technician would be responsible for repairs, keeping the segways running, and keeping spare parts on hand (salvaged from other damaged mini pros).
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Old 04-10-2017, 12:50 PM   #25
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I think the business is insured for catastrophic loss, not the mini pros.
I'm sure that's correct. The cost of a policy large enough to cover the death of either a rider or some person they run into would cost several thousand dollars a month, I'm sure - *If* you could even find a company willing to take on that risk. I'm sure you would need several million dollars of liability at a minimum and I don't think it would be easy to find any company willing to accept that risk without charging you sky-high rates

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Old 04-10-2017, 02:24 PM   #26
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I'm sure that's correct. The cost of a policy large enough to cover the death of either a rider or some person they run into would cost several thousand dollars a month, I'm sure - *If* you could even find a company willing to take on that risk. I'm sure you would need several million dollars of liability at a minimum and I don't think it would be easy to find any company willing to accept that risk without charging you sky-high rates

Don
Couldn't the same be said about these places that rent motor cycles and those mini looking cars and ATVs?

Maybe thats why there expensive to rent were i live?
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Old 04-10-2017, 04:31 PM   #27
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If you're renting an ATV to ride in the desert or some other equally unpopulated area, I'm sure they can get by with a much different policy - Have the rider sign a waiver and the odds of him/her running down some unsuspecting pedestrian are much, much lower than someone riding on sidewalks populated with lots of pedestrians

There are all sorts of pretty dangerous things you can do where you sign an agreement acknowledging you understand participating in the activity could result in serious injury or even death *to you* and I doubt the insurance policy the vendor needs is terribly expensive. The greatest area of likely harm is covered by your waiver and there's not much chance you're going to harm someone else

We ride Segs on city sidewalks all the time and because they're so quiet, most of the pedestrians we approach from behind don't have a clue we're even there - Frequently it's a couple walking side by side conversing with each other. We slow to their walking speed 10 or 15 feet behind them and many times follow them for a hundred yards or more until they either notice us and usually they step to one side, or we wait until we get to a place where we can safely pass without alarming them. I can tell you not every Seg rider is that courteous . . . . they can go much faster than the walking pace and they don't like being held up. IMO, the probability of a rider knocking someone down is fairly high, especially if you pass someone at high speed when they don't know you're coming

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Old 04-12-2017, 11:47 AM   #28
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The guy in Ft Lauderdale is running minipro guided tours and either does or does not have liability insurance. I asked him who is coverage is with and he refuses to say.
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Old 04-15-2017, 01:29 PM   #29
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The guy in Ft Lauderdale is running minipro guided tours and either does or does not have liability insurance. I asked him who is coverage is with and he refuses to say.
He has to be a licensed business to run those tours. To get the license to give rides to people, I would think liability insurance is required by the local government.

Two reasons to not give out your insurance information. First is to avoid people targeting him for a fraudulent insurance claim. A fake fall during his tour because they know he has high levels of insurance coverage and will easily settle out of court.

Airplane manufacturers have to carefully balance their insurance. Having too much insurance just attracts claims. Everyone wants to dip their cup in if you are found to have a large pot of gold.

A second reason would be not to help potential business competitors. Why waste your time?
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