Originally Posted by News Articles on the weekend

For the last three months the electric scooters known as segways have been zipping around the Parliamentary Triangle, but now the ACT Government has brought this novel form of transportation to a halt.
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Canberra business Seg Glide Ride Lake Burley has been hiring out the segways from a kiosk at Commonwealth Place since mid-May to run on the footpaths on the bridge-to-bridge route around the lake.

But it was told by Roads ACT last week to stop operating.

Granted a lease and permission to operate by the NCA, Charlie and Diane Orr were looking to have their staff trained up and business issues ironed out by the peak summer season, in time to rent segways to tourists for the sometimes largish distances between Canberra's national institutions and cultural attractions.

Instead they have been shut down by the ACT Government with Minister Simon Corbell saying their segways are illegal and not covered by third party insurance.

"It came as a complete shock...and [after] operating for three months without incident it was even more of a shock I suppose" said Charlie Orr.

Local businessman and segway lover Marcus Dawe wrote to the Minister to complain.

"I wish to express my disappointment at your TAMS Directorate's decision to shut down the Segway hire business at Commonwealth Place," Dawes wrote.

"The NCA decision to grant a license to this entrepreneurial Canberra business was exactly the type of progressive 21st century policy we citizens expect from our administrators in our global village of Canberra.

"The utility and novelty of this transport mode had added a unique aspect to the lake and the foreshore. It gave visitors to Canberra who experienced a ride or just watched others a sense of difference and personal freedom we often know to be true of Canberra but find hard to convey to the occasional visitor through just our tourist attractions. In short it added to the personal experience of visitors and citizens and their interaction with our great city. I enjoyed a ride one Sunday afternoon and so have many of my friends, colleagues and visiting friends.

"I would ask you to please review this decision in a transparent manner and clarify the ACT Government's position on transport innovation for the future.

"I ask you and your Directorate - If bicycles were invented today by your own policies, would they be illegal?"

The Minister for Territory and Municipal Services says he will review the situation.

"Australian road rules do not permit the use of segways on public places for safety reasons, because of potential impacts on pedestrians," Corbell said.

"But I have a lot of sympathy for the business and for what they are trying to do and for that reason I've asked my department to undertake a review of this matter. I do have discretion under the Australian road rules as they apply here and can exempt certain activities from the application of the rules."