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Unread 24-08-2006, 10:59
Richard Wallace's Avatar
Richard Wallace Richard Wallace is offline
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Re: Segways banned in Britain

Quote:
Originally Posted by Courtneyb1023
...I guess with the percentage of overweight people in this country specifically, anything that gets us up and moving is a plus.
You may have hit on the real long-term market driver for Segways and any future similar personal mobility devices -- obesity. Yesterday I heard an NPR piece citing recent research that shows 25% of today's Americans are obese, compared with 7% in some reference year (20 years ago, I think).

Right now the Segway is seen by most people as toy for well-heeled technology enthusiasts. In a few years it may be seen as a mobility aid for fat people.

[BTW, at 72" height and 215 lb., I am clearly overweight and borderline obese by CDC standards. So maybe I'll be one of the Segway-riding fat people myself.]
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Richard Wallace

Mentor since 2011 for FRC 3620 Average Joes (St. Joseph, Michigan)
Mentor 2002-10 for FRC 931 Perpetual Chaos (St. Louis, Missouri)
since 2003

I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.
(Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97)
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