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View Full Version : 50,000+ hours, no pedestrians injured




n/a
12-02-2002, 03:09 PM
That is approximately 2000 days or 5 years of riding.

quote:How much damage Segways could cause is still a question. The company notes that police, postal workers, and other civil servants in cities including New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta have logged more than 50,000 hours on the vehicles. So far, no pedestrians have been injured.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1202/p02s02-ussc.html

quote:California Assemblywoman Dion Aroner has already done that. As a representative from Berkeley, the home of the disabled-rights movement and the inventor of curb-side cutouts for wheelchairs, she was a Segway skeptic when legislation came up for debate this year. The elderly in her district voiced concerns that Segway, which can reach a top speed of 12 m.p.h., would turn sidewalks into bowling alleys of pedestrian pins.

Ms. Aroner's experience, however, sheds light on how Segway's lobbying effort has achieved such success in statehouses across America.

First, she says, Segway chose a good lobbyist - "one not perceived as being in anyone's pocket." Moreover, the company was open to her comments and willing to compromise on the drafted bill. For example, the California law - like those in several states - allows each locality to draw up its own laws on Segway, going street by street, if necessary.

What sold her, though, was riding it for 20 minutes around the statehouse. "My balance is not great," says Aroner. "But I could do it. I felt secure on it."

This woman seems should know what she is talking about.

quote:In fact, she felt Segway might be of benefit to those most concerned about it: the elderly.

Ironic that the senior citizens groups are protesting so loudly.

I wonder how that compares with the safety statistic of other vehicles?




bicycledriver
12-02-2002, 04:13 PM
I would expect police, postal workers, and other civil servants to be the safest Segway operators. Police in North Carolina operate bicycles on sidewalks, in malls, and in airports, and in parks with a good safety record regarding pedestrians. It is possible to do this safely at low speed and with great care. I do not believe it is unreasonable to expect professionals to comply with this degree of care. We do know, however, that the general public is much less careful with cycling on sidewalks, resulting in a high incidence of bike-pedestrian crash injuries. A bicycle rider here in Raleigh killed an elderly pedestrian on a multi-use path a couple years ago. The path was then closed to bicycles.

I'd like to know the number of miles traveled in that time. It's useful to compare injury statistics normalized per mile as well as per hour. All travel modes are pretty safe while stationary.

Steve Goodridge (no pedestrian injuries in 50,000 miles of cycling)

Jameskk
12-02-2002, 04:21 PM
actually, there has been an accident.. and it was a police officer:

of course, I was in Atlanta several weeks ago and saw the police using the segways and they were doing things that I wouldn't do on mine (going up over sidewalks. yes, up over!)

http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/metro/0502/03segway.html

Casey
12-02-2002, 04:36 PM
If you will notice, the claim is that there have been no PEDESTRIAN injuries. The Atlanta accident involved only the rider, with no PEDESTRIAN involved.

quote:The heralded Segway has claimed its first Atlanta victim. A member of the Central Atlanta Progress Ambassador Force toppled from one of the personal scooters on Cone Street near Luckie Street about 8:40 p.m. Thursday.

n/a
12-02-2002, 04:44 PM
An additional factor to take into consideration is that the Segway riders could not have had much experience before they rode the Segways on the sidewalks.

Blinky
12-02-2002, 08:23 PM
Article,
quote:Police in Boston tested them, too, but deputy superintendent Bill Casey has no concerns: "It can stop so quickly, that I don't think it could hurt anyone."
Still waiting for those numbers..( quickly = ? )

Blinky
12-02-2002, 08:26 PM
bicycledriver writes,
quote:I'd like to know the number of miles traveled in that time. It's useful to compare injury statistics normalized per mile as well as per hour. All travel modes are pretty safe while stationary.
As would we all. This would give us a general idea of how the initial numbers of Segway-HT incidents will be.

I love the quote in bold "All travel modes are pretty safe while stationary." What isn't really safe stationary? [:p]