If this topic isn't off, at least here in Virginia our Legislators are.
In addition to being a Segway enthusiast, I am a devoted antique "little British car" fan. And I'm involved with a few car related groups, one of which is a council of many of the Commonwealth's car clubs that closely follows what those, er, folks over in Richmond think ought to be enacted every year as new law. And believe me when I tell you that they can come up with some REAL doozies! About every other year they want to reinvent the wheel and do something that adversly affects the collector car hobby, and we end up going into head butting mode. Thankfully, this is an off year, they are leaving us alone, and I'll have more time to glide. They seem more interested this year in creating yet another version of license tag to add to our selection of over a hundred and eighty
http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/c...ate_search.asp to choose from (this year one is for the Shag Dance Clubs of Virginia - and no, I can't make this stuff up). They are also working to pass a law prohibiting, well, the display of certain parts of anatomy of livestock from the trailer hitches of trucks. I'll leave that one alone. But they are now also working on a Bill that has been passed by the Transportation Committee in a 15 - 0 vote in favor of creating MINIMUM noise requirements for cars. Their feeling is that the new Prius and other Hybrids are too quiet for blind pedestrians to hear, and that this is creating a safety issue.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp...?081+ful+SB739 Their solution is to require all motor vehicles registered in Virginia (electric or not) to "emit an omni-directional sound with similar spectral characteristics to that of a modern internal combustion engine... (and) the sound shall vary in a way that is consistent with the sound of motor vehicles with internal combustion engines indicating that the vehicle is idling, maintaining a constant speed, accelerating, or decelerating..." As one of the representatives from a hot rod club on the council said: "But officer, my glass-pack mufflers are only there for pedestrian safety!"
Now, I know that Segways are not required to be registered, and that they fall (for now) under a completely different set of rules (again, for now) but can't you see (following Richmond logic) a requirement coming down the 'pike that would require Segs to sound like mopeds or scooters?!?! Or mimicking the sound of a kid's bicycle with a playing card rattling the front spokes? Maybe Inc. will start selling custom Seg-tone downloads...