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Segways Roll Over Chicago
lpangelrob2 writes "It looks like someone in Chicago finally found a use for Dean Kamen's Segways. The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that a three hour tour of Chicago's lakefront will be guided by Segways traveling on Chicago's sidewalks at 5mph. The cost of the tour is $65, and an instructional class and helmet is provided -- just in case."
Washington, DC. You could zip around between the monuments and museums pretty quickly. A lot of the car traffic in that area is really not necessary, and people could get in and out of the area via Metro.
consider the cost of ownership of a ten passenger van versus the cost of ten segways. The segways win compared to the cost of a new van. Moreover the segaways have better access. Still the segways cant be used just anywhere like this.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
I'll take Mary Ann over Ginger any day...
The picture is hilarious, but I find it funny that people think it strange that we get pictures of bush doing stupid things when he has people filming him constantly.
But I bet you've never done anything clumsy.
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
The segway is not meant to replace WALKING! It is meant to replace DRIVING...
I assume you own a car? Do you walk to the grocery store? How about to the movie theater?
When was the last time you walked between 5-15 miles to get to a destination. Now, when was the last time you DROVE there?
The Segway is meant to replace driving in short trips to and from locations between 10 and 15 miles from your departure point. It uses no gas, and cost $0.10 a day to charge.
Its transportation, not exercise.
The Code Ninja is swift with his tool, precise in his delivery, and deadly accurate in his execution.
like, rtfa?
there was no implication that there was a chase at all, the guy just probably simply left after the incident.
******
The child was walking outside her father's Potrero Hill store on Tuesday when a Segway ran her down. Witnesses say it was traveling about 10 miles per hour.
Joel Bleskacek, father: "I was quite angry and I confronted him. I asked him why he was driving so fast during the crowded lunch hour on the sidewalk. He claimed my daughter jumped in front of him."
******
That implies that the father hadn't even SEEN the incident. the girl was _3_ years old. Now, I might be stupid but what the hell was the parent thinking letting her toddle around like that in the first place? into a what the father even himself claims that was a crowded lunch hour sidewalk. Imagine the girl wandering into the car crowded street from that sidewalk.. 3 year olds don't know much about the world.
****
Sophie Maxwell, S.F. supervisor: "This just reiterates our concerns and our fears that this is exactly what can happen."
****
yeah, well, 3 year olds can get hurt in situations just involving joggers if they're allowed to just jump around the place(or skaters or bicyclists or just about _anything_).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Neither, really. It's suppose to fit a zone in between that has previously been poorly-serviced.
Do you walk to the grocery store?
That'd be an especially bad use of the Segway. Grocery customers buy numerous large bags, which you can't transport standing on a scooter. Keeping the purchase size down to what a Segway can carry would nessecitate more trips.
The Segway is meant to replace driving in short trips to and from locations between 10 and 15 miles from your departure point.
The Segway goes maybe 12 miles in an hour. Depending on road conditions, automobiles do between 20 and 60. For the 10-15 mile trips you're talking about, a car is the rational choice for the following reasons:
Segways don't do well compared with bicycles either. Bikes are about equivalent in terms of speed, cargo, and weather protection, but can cost just 1% of the sale price, and have the benefit of increasing the operator's cardiovascular health.
Plus, in uncongested areas, the bike is faster too... and of course it goes longer between recharging.
The market niche for Segways is apparently people who'd like to make small bicycle-level trips, but are too obese to pedal themselves.
Joel Bleskacek, father: "I was quite angry and I confronted him. I asked him why he was driving so fast during the crowded lunch hour on the sidewalk. He claimed my daughter jumped in front of him." ****** That implies that the father hadn't even SEEN the incident. the girl was _3_ years old. Now, I might be stupid but what the hell was the parent thinking letting her toddle around like that in the first place?
Uh, no it doesn't. For one thing, the girl might actually have "jumped" in front of the guy not noticing him, which would mean that both people were telling the truth. (Rider: "she jumped in front of me" Father: "he claimed she jumped in front of him"). All that it implies is that the father and the rider had a difference of opinion about what constitutes a "Jump", which is totally reasonable in cases like this. The fact that you've jumped to a ridiculous conclusion and used it to attack the guy's parenting skills, however, implies you're a jackass.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I think that there are a lot of New Orleans police that would argue that a horse is just as effective at moving through crowds.
The point being, the safety issues with the segway aren't so much centric to speed as they probably are to weight and carelessness.
Segways have the same issues as rollerblades, bikes, and jogging. In all cases it's carelessness in the way riders/bladers are unwilling to slow down when around people on foot.
The problem is that accidents between pedestrians and rollerbladers (or bikers in some cities) are not publicized as much as an accident involving a Segway. I've seen rollerbladers and bikers run into people on foot. It's not pretty, especially when the rollerblader or biker runs off without even an apology.
Rollerbladers, bikers, joggers, Segway-riders should all be taken off the sidewalks.
at the beginning of the twentieth century, a lot of people were concerned about the accidents that could occur from automobiles. the cost of accidents were eventually considered to be a reasonable risk considering the convenience that they give.
... helmet is provided -- just in case.
After reading link about segway accident, I realized
that helmets should be provided also to pedestrian, not just drivers.
Spoken like a true childless objectivist.
Plus: a car? No one should have to watch for that on a sidewalk. A parent can easily keep a 3 year old off the street without holding hands or carrying. But somehow I doubt you would know that.
Anyone should have the reasonable expectation that anything moving on the sidewalk is capable of avoiding injurious collisions with a human of whatever size. For example, someone engrossed in a map should not be walking at a brisk pace.
Segways and bicycles operated at medium+ speeds or by unskilled riders belong on the street, where they shoulder more of their own risk.
It all depends on the exact geography of course, but I think that after two weeks of practice, the hills would cease to be a problem.
I don't think so. I know guys who bike 40 miles a day (not that uncommon in Colorado) and for most of the hills between my house and work, you are not going to be going much better than walking speed up them even with a lot of conditioning. I can tell because I pass them every day in my car and I have never seen any of them going above a crawl.
If the shower is a consequence of having sweated on the trip, then Segways can share that problem. Automobiles can turn the air conditioning up to frosty levels, but of course Segways and bikes can't do this. They'll both have you exposed to hot sunlight for about the same length of time. Of course, the bike also involves some physical extertion, but I think in the summertime you'd sweat regardless.
In Houston I would agree with you. But in any dry climate it's pretty easy to be outside even at 90 degrees or more for a long time and not really sweat at all. As long as you had a hat and some water things would be good (and for commuting the temperatures would be a lot lower when traveling).
Another point I neglected to mention is that bicycles and automobiles have a wheel diameter greater than twice that of a Segway. This becomes important when you get off of neat sidewalks and onto real roads, which can become highly non-smooth, especially at the edges. A thin bike wheel can navigate precisely around the edges of obstacles/potholes, which a Segway could not avoid without swinging way out into automotive traffic.
On the Segway you would simply ride over whatever it was, this to me is actually a weakness of the bicycle in that it's very prone to problems from the smallest of debris. A Segway has a huge amount of tourque as in very stable, you can just about go up over a curb on one. I actually wuld feel a lot more confident on a Segway near traffic than a bike, and I've biked quite a lot in the past. I know I could comfortably use the segway on rocky shoulders where nobody with a road bike is willing to go.
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