Supes propose Segway ban [Archive]

Casey

11-15-2002, 05:35 PM

quote:Publication date: 11/15/2002

Supes propose Segway ban

BY DAVID KIEFER
Of The Examiner Staff

San Francisco is not ready for the Segway.

On Thursday, the Transportation and Commerce Committee recommended that the futuristic self-balancing, electric-powered transportation device should be banned from city sidewalks.

The machine, which weighs as much as 95 pounds and travels up to 12 miles an hour, is designed for sidewalks and was recently tested by local postal workers, but critics say it's a menace.

"We could be turning our sidewalks into NFL football fields," Supervisor Jake McGoldrick said.

"Pedestrians don't want to dodge two-wheeled bullets," said Bruce Livingston, executive director of the Senior Action Network.

Doug Field, the chief engineer of the Segway, said people's concerns were based on experiences with existing modes of transportation such as motorized scooters, wheelchairs, and even bikes and skateboards. But the Segway, he said, is different.

"Until you stand on the machine, you don't realize that you're not riding the vehicle, it becomes an extension of you," he said. "It's revolutionary."

His point? Preconceived notions just don't apply.

His argument was lost on critics such as senior-citizen advocates, bicyclists and walkers.

"The whole point of sidewalks is to separate vehicles from pedestrians," Walk San Francisco director Michael Smith said.

"Sidewalks are perhaps the only safe haven left in San Francisco," Livingston said. "I have two toddlers. I don't want to have to guard their backs when we walk down the street."

Livingston said he tested it out and lost control, running into several chairs in an office hallway. Other riders said the elderly and disabled would be unable to control a vehicle that depends on balance.

Using Segways for business may be the answer. Twelve letter carriers in the Pacific Heights neighborhood tested the Segways this summer and cut time off their notoriously hilly routes. Police Chief Earl Sanders also said Segways could be useful in police work.

One woman who touted the Segway was Valerie Cheasty, of Albany, who is partially paralyzed because of a viral infection.

"I had the sense of walking again. I felt I had the same mobility I had before I became disabled. I was up until 3 a.m. I was thinking of all the things I could do again."

"If I was not disabled, it would be like someone telling me, 'Now, you can fly.'"