@ehBeth,
We don't intend to buy one (much to Mo's utter disappointment).
It's interesting to hear that there are so many accidents. I'm terribly clumsy and I thought it was a breeze to operate, even in crowds.
@farmerman,
Those are very good points and might be a huge reason they didn't catch on!
@boomerang,
Hard for the Segway to catch on when its inventor done went and died using it.
Never rode one, never plan to.
@boomerang,
boomerang wrote:
Why do you think it didn't catch on as a mode of transportation?
The price
couldn't have helped. But I always just assumed it was viewed as a too highly effective sex repellent. Like t-shirts that say, 'Real programmers do it in C'. . . or fanny packs.
I really don't see how the things improve on anything.
The moped/scooter design is far more comfortable to ride, reliable, reasonably safe and well established in our society.
Any where you couldn't go on a scooter, a Segway rapidly becomes an encumbrance, unless you're a mall cop or something.
I think the niche market is pretty small.
What about fanny packs? Do you have trouble getting laid when you're wearing a fanny pack?
Not to mention, no chance of your GF giving you you're favorite sensation on a Segway
I've seen the police using them. They are speedy and give the police a good foot clearance over a crowd.
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
What about fanny packs? Do you have trouble getting laid when you're wearing a fanny pack?
Nah. I just sling it to the side. And take the keys out so it's not all . . . jingley.
Who the **** wants to ride standing up?
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
What about fanny packs? Do you have trouble getting laid when you're wearing a fanny pack?
Yibb Yibb K-woo K-woo Fnurr Fnurr Eh Eh Chub Chub Arp Arp Yik Yik
Fnarr Fnarr.
Frankly, I'm at a loss to think of where people could use them on a regular basis for practical purposes.
Beyond cruising up and down urban streets for very short jaunts "sightseeing", let's be realistic about about the age range, sizes, abilities etc. of Everyone out there, not the the 20 somethings who think they'd be fully capable of using one, talking on their cell, twittering, downloading tunes, and looking blase about it all, simultaneously.
Use it to go to work? Maybe if it doesn't matter what you wear to work, or mind arriving sweat drenched, wind blown, dusty and jostled to boot. I don't want to have to apply sunscreen just to get to work. Or the opposite in the winter....or when it's raining....or windy....or if you have anywhere else to go after you arrive at work, etc.
Errands? Not if you need to get anything beyond some small items. Plus the above weather concerns.
Yeah, it's supposed to be easy to use. Well, every time I go out in public I always get at least one person that's simply walking that doesn't understand, or care, that other people are around them, and will literally walk straight at you as if you're invisible. Something I'd enjoy even less if they were on a segway.
Honestly, if you leave the immediate areas around the starbucks, sushi bars and Antropologie, they seem pretty useless to me.
I'm listening close to farmermans take on it, the milage factor etc.
For my next car, (not for a few years, the longer the better) I'm very much intrigued with getting a Volt. By then, perhaps the milage of the charge will be increased. Not interested so much in the Leaf, since it's totally electric, and I think it's ridiculous not to have some sort of backup.
@Sturgis,
Dean Kamen invented it, not the guy who died.
@wayne,
The only advantage I can see over a scooter is that a segway is allowed places a scooter isn't.
@Ceili,
That really does make sense. The police in our city use horses and they're kind of a mess (even though I really love horses).
@chai2,
I could see a restaurant using them to make area deliveries and that sort of thing but I agree that as a real form of transportation they aren't very practical.
The man I see riding his around lives in the neighborhood and works in the neighborhood. The rain seems to not bother him. But like I said.... he's rather eccentric.
@boomerang,
Out here in the country they are useless even on a farm. (We bought a demo John Deere "Gator" and can drive all over and I can even pick up my neighbors segway and carry it). One thing I forgot. Segways are fuckin heavy. They weigh about 100 pounds Ill bet. When my neighbor goes into Quarryville to do errands, I often help him load his Segway on the back of his truck. Im sure he gets some Amishman to help himn reschlepp it back on when hes done with errands.
I can drive my Gator all the way in town and dont get ticketed becaise I stay in fields and fence lines or along the rights of way.
Heres the instrument to own, and only if you can get one as a demo or used (Never buy a John Deere ANYTHING new)
@boomerang,
The reason horse patrols continue to be popular (they were still using them for crowd control in Columbus, Ohio, quite recently) is that not only does the officer have a greater view of the crowd, but the horse can easily be trained to use its size and weight to keep back the crowd, without necessarily being overtly aggressive. I can't say for sure, but i was told that they had also significantly cut down on purse-snatching in the center of the city near the state house, because the purse snatcher can't fade into the crowd if a mounted officer keeps him in sight, and he can't outrun a horse.
Quote:A day after the new owner of the Segway company plunged to his death on one of the two-wheeled scooters, Washington, D.C., emergency room researchers are warning that injuries from the transporters are becoming more common — and more serious.
People hurt on the self-balancing devices are more likely to be admitted to the hospital, particularly with traumatic head and face injuries, than pedestrians struck by cars, said Dr. Mary Pat McKay, a professor of emergency medicine and public health at the George Washington University.
She’s urging U.S. consumer safety experts to better monitor harm from the tens of thousands of Segways in use nationwide.
“What we need is a system to look at this on a national basis, which we don’t have now,” said McKay. “People are falling off of Segways and they’re really getting hurt.”
In a case review released today in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, McKay counted 41 Segway injuries among patients who came to the George Washington emergency room between April 2005 and November 2008. Of those, 10, or 24 percent, were admitted to the hospital and four were rushed to the intensive care unit.
“When I compare admission rates for Segway injuries for people who came to the ER, the admission rate was higher than pedestrians struck by a car,” she said, noting that about 20 percent of those patients are admitted, according to government analyses.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39382682/ns/health-health_care/t/segway-scooters-can-lead-serious-injuries-experts-warn/
Add this to that they dont intuitively look safe and all of the other problems and I can well see why they did not catch on.
Seqways at least have the potential of being licensable or used on streets, depending on local laws. Farmer's Gator probably doesn't, which is a big consideration for most people in this country. Target seems to have something which looks very similar for moving long trains of their shopping carts around, but it has three small wheels in a triangle configuration, rather than the Segway's two large ones. I suspect that means it doesn';t have the gyroscope setup and most of the computer control of the segway, which probably reduces the price considerable (and complexity). Don't know anything else about the Target onesor who makes them. \
Region is right--they do do sightseeing tours on them in Boston--maybe 8 or 10 people at a time, but they had to go through a long procedure with the city to get permission--can they use streets or sidewalkS? What's the impact on a knot of pedestrians when a dozen oof the things bear down on them? etc.
I think some sort of small urban vehicle, two people, lightweight enclosed body, maybe mountain bvike tires, battery power, or maybe small gas engine or small ethanol engine (which can be much higher compression for more efficiency) since the large majority of car trips in the US are under ten miles. but there would have to be new licensing standards developed for it.
