Also this issue:

River Phoenix
How life along one urban waterway can rise from the ashes.
-Steve Conn

January 16-22, 2003

cityspace

Unsafe At Any Speed?

by Daniel Brook

Among the array of vehicles currently on display at the Philadelphia International Auto Show is a Segway Human Transporter, so Philadelphians may find it odd that, under Pennsylvania law, the high-tech scooter is not considered a motor vehicle.

Last July, Governor Schweiker signed a bill legalizing the use of Segway Human Transporters on Pennsylvania sidewalks without mandating a speed limit. The legislation, which was rushed through Harrisburg with little debate, came as the result of a concerted nationwide effort by the Segway company to ensure that state and federal motor vehicle regulations do not apply to their souped-up scooters.

In Philly, pedestrian advocates and a handful of local State House reps tried to stop the legislation, arguing that the scooters, which can reach a top speed of 12.5 miles per hour and carry a 250-pound individual with 75 pounds of cargo, could wreak havoc on the city's pedestrians. Despite their opposition, the bill passed with only nine "nay" votes in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Now Gary Smith, who runs the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, is taking on the company, tracking their legislative moves nationally, arguing that Segways are motor vehicles with no business going on sidewalks. "Sidewalks were designed to separate motorized traffic from pedestrian traffic," says Smith, and "knowing what I know about the vulnerability of children, [changing] that just didn't make sense." According to Smith, 31 states have passed company-backed legislation. Smith charges that the company's lobbyists have pushed their bills through by wowing legislators with the new technology and simply assuring them that Segways are safe. The company is asking legislators "to get rid of these laws that are time-tested, based on no data," Smith says.

Matt Dailida, who is in charge of government affairs at Segway, says he "respectfully disagrees" with Smith. "To date we have almost 100,000 hours of real-time use on sidewalks in major American cities [and] there has not been one injury to a pedestrian bystander." One Segway rider was seriously injured in Atlanta when he fell off his vehicle, though no pedestrians were hurt in the accident. Dailida contrasts this with the 44,000 Americans who died in auto accidents last year.

Smith says he and like-minded activists have made some progress. Opposition in certain states pushed Segway backers to allow local governments to exempt their municipalities from the statewide laws. San Francisco recently banned the use of Segways on sidewalks, the first city in the country to do so. According to the Pennsylvania Segway law, Philadelphia has the right to do the same if City Council so desires.