Friday, July 15, 2005

 

Toronto Pedestrian Committee Kills Segway Approval

At the July 14, 2005 meeting of the TO Pedestrian Committe did the right thing and by majority vote rejected the use of Segways in favor of "reserving sidewalks for pedestrians".
Just imagine the practicality of this decision "reserving sidewalks for pedestrians" and not allowing some Segway.com corporation to profit from the use of public property at the expense of children, seniors, persons of disability and other legitimate sidewalk users. Any approval of the Seway would forever alter the balance between human and the machine in the City.
Members of the Committee said :"Segways conflict with everything that we are trying to achieve" Further the Committee "believes that the presence of Segway scooters and other similiar motorized vehicles (a.k.a. pocket crotch rockets, electric tricyles, go-carts, electric lawn movers) would be detramental to the safe and free circulation of pedestrians and to the enjoyment of the walking experience". "The TO Pedestrian Committee strongly recommends that the City of Toronto continue to prohibit the circulation of Segway scooters on sidewalks, footpaths and recretational paths."
“Just imagine the damage that a Segway would inflict on any of today’s sidewalk stakeholder if they were to be impacted by a machine and rider weighing several hundred pounds traveling at 20 kph --- OUCH! Segways may be able to stop quickly however the stopping distance is in part based on the reaction time of the rider. “The National Safety Council has determined that the average reaction time for an emergency braking situation is three-quarters of a second. At even 12mph (i.e. 20kph), a Segway would therefore travel an average of 13 feet before the user would even initiate braking.” Segway claims that the device can be stopped in an additional 5 feet (which would be a remarkable 1 g of deceleration force if true!) for a total stopping distance of 18 feet --- the Question BEGS Is 18 feet stopping distance sufficient safety factor to be used on Toronto’s crowded sidewalks?
All To Citizens of TO owe the Pedestrian Committee a big thanks for not getting caught up in the hoopla of the Segway marketers.



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