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Originally Posted by Michael Hill
Good, they should be off the streets....and sidewalks. They're too big to be riding around and are dangerous to pedestrians. Honestly, they get pretty annoying at events. And they definitely should be kept off the roads. The Brits got something right! I know I'm definitely going against the grain posting it on these boards (posting a message not bowing down to Dean Kamen), but I know I am not alone. Off these boards, a lot of people definitely don't bow down to him. I'm not saying what he's done for the youth and getting them involved in engineering is bad, it's quite a good thing, and I do applaud him for that. It's just I don't see the usefulness of some of this invention. I mean, ya, it's cool, it balances and has 2 wheels. Well...I can balance a bike, a bike has 2 wheels, and the battery doesn't die.
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I'm sorry, but I'll have to agree to disagree on this issue.
The way I see having a Segway right now is like having a car in 1910. You're that one person in the entire city who has a Segway, just like the one person in your city that had a car back in 1910. Your Segway is heralded as a miracle in urban planning, oil independence, and environmentally friendly transportation, just as the car was heralded as a miracle in transportation (especially for the huge problem back then of horse excrement in the streets).
However, by having a Segway all kinds of unnecessary biased opinions and fears are had toward you, in the same way that people were petrified of having cars in roads in 1910. (You can't have cars in the road - they'll scare the people and horses and get in the way of the trolley!)
Now look where we are. Within a few decades of the cars initially coming out, we started building our first highways and byways, and we started designing cities around cars. It's time for a change. Every century brings a new marvel in transportation. In the 19th century it was railroads. In the 20th century it was automobiles and airplanes. In the 21st century, it may likely be Segways.
This is not to say we will completely abandon our older modes of transportation: the United States still has the largest railroad network in the world, and cars and airplanes aren't going to the Smithsonian anytime soon. All this means is life is changing, and we must keep pace, or be left behind.
Why ban them? I would much rather have restrictions like a 6 mph speed limit on sidewalks, or 3 mph speed limit in heavy pedestrian areas, than outright banning. Outright banning accomplishes nothing except angering people who weren't doing anything wrong in the first place. If I lived in Britain, I would continue to commute using my Segway
in a responsible manner as an act of civil disobedience.
Also to note: almost everyone I've met has been very welcoming towards the Segway - and even those who are cautious always change their mind after riding one. I've even rode my Segway into the high school where our robotics team meets, and met in person with the principal there. He did not yell at me or chide me for "terrorizing pedrestrians", but rather he was quite intriguied by the Segway, and stated how I'd never be late to class again if I went there. He had no problems with me gliding through the hallways full of people, and the all the other people in the hallways didn't seem to mind either.
The only problem (it wasn't a problem to me 
) was that all the girls chasing after me caused more distress to other people in the hallway than I did on my Segway. Who would have thought that a Segway is a huge chick magnet? 