Segway drawing cheers, jeers

[Casey]

November 11, 2002 - Portsmouth Herald - Dean Kamen's Segway scooter was unveiled nearly a year ago, with a promise it would change transportation. Most people still are walking, but the device has been tested all over the country, more than half the states have rewritten laws to allow them on sidewalks as the machine attracts cheers and some jeers. Full Article (http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/11112002/biz_nati/33990.htm)

[Casey]

quote:Segway drawing cheers, jeers

By Associated Press

GILFORD, N.H. - Dean Kamen's Segway scooter was unveiled nearly a year ago, with a promise it would change transportation. Most people still are walking, but the device has been tested all over the country, more than half the states have rewritten laws to allow them on sidewalks as the machine attracts cheers and some jeers.

Letter carriers, police officers and meter readers from New Hampshire to San Francisco have had a ball testing the Segway and believe it's useful but many of their bosses have yet to buy.

Thirty-one states have rewritten laws to allow the Segway onto sidewalks, but the motorized scooter remains unavailable to the public.

Advocates for the blind and elderly have called the Segway a safety hazard because it weighs 69 pounds and travels 12 mph yet no state is requiring its drivers be trained.

An organized anti-Segway effort has begun in San Francisco, where elderly advocacy groups say they'll make sidewalks too dangerous for pedestrians.

Nearly everyone who has stepped onto a Segway is fascinated. It's powered by batteries, costs pennies to run, contributes almost no pollution and responds to a rider's body language.

Even Lavoyed Hudgins, who runs an Atlanta tourist agency, remains enamored after one of his employees underwent two surgeries from a Segway mishap. The employee hit a hole in the pavement while riding.

''Well gee whiz,'' Hudgins said. ''People fall off bikes everyday. People fall off motorcycles everyday. People have car accidents everyday. If it were (financially) possible for me to put every one of our 65 (employees) on a Segway, I would.''

Bob Livingston, the head of an elderly advocacy group in California, represents the other extreme.

In August, Livingston invited Segway to a board meeting to discuss his safety concerns and promptly plowed into the furniture while testing the Segway. The board voted unanimously to oppose any use of the Segway.

In New Hampshire, Public Service Company was the first electric utility in the country to test the Segway. The Concord post office was one of five in the country to put its carriers on a Segway for a four- week test. Segway asked the Manchester police department to try four of them. Now, similar tests are being done in police departments, post offices and in national parks all over the country.

Public Service spokesman Martin Murray said the company will decide in the next couple of weeks whether to buy the Segways it's been testing. Employees love riding them and can cover more ground in less time, he said. But the Segway battery gives out halfway through the shift, meaning the reader has to stop and replace it with a charged spare.

The commercial models sell for $5,000 to $9,000. The utility is comparing the cost against the potential savings, Murray said.

The Post Office wraps up its testing in the next two months, said Jim Adams, district manager. He said officials still are evaluating whether the Segways save time and money or will survive New Hampshire's cold, snowy winters.

Manchester police decided not to buy, said Sgt. Shawn Fournier. The machines were perfect for downtown patrols because they started conversations between officers and the public.

''However, it's like anything else,'' Fournier said. ''We work on a very strict budget."