Segway: a great leap for human transportation?

 

Date: 2002-11-19

It's being touted as a transportation option that will have as much impact on the human transportation as the bicycle. "The Segway Human Transporter is one of the most famous and anticipated product introductions of all time," Jeff Bezos, chief executive and founder of Amazon.com, said in announcing the availability of the vehicles on the online retailer's site.

The amazing Segway, a sort of electric scooter that balances itself, was hyped in the media November 18 as "now available to the public." It is the brainchild of prolific millionaire inventor Dean Kamen, whose innovations include a stair-climbing wheelchair and a portable insulin pump. Its legal acceptance as a transportation device has been rapid. Already, thirty-two states have passed laws approving it for use on sidewalks. However, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and Oregon have not yet acted. Seven mostly rural states have no prohibitions on the use of powered vehicles on sidewalks.

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