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June 03

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Q! Aren't you doing this to suck up to the Segway folk?

A. That's what they need: Groupies. Yeah, that's the ticket...

Actually, I think they spent the 100 million dollars developing this suite of technologies to suck up to ME!

And it worked. They got my five grand, didn't they? Now they need to suck up to a few others that have five grand. About 20,000 more and they'll be in the ballpark of break-even.

Segway LLC isn't about the money, though. Surprise! They know that this isn't a toy--although it is decidedly fun. In the grand scheme of things, it's about filling a missing category of transportation that falls between cars and feet. A category that avoids the pitfalls--and pratfalls--of skates, bicycles and polluting motors.

With over half the world in cities and cities jammed (literally) full of cars, motorcycles and gasoline engines, either feet at 2 miles per hour are THE ONLY pedestrian answer, or the pollution from mo-peds, cars and trucks that carry folks around is not going to diminish.

The HT neatly wedges into this vacuum asserting that you, the lowly foot-plodding pedestrian, can go farther and achieve more with your life when using this tool.

Reality check:

What they need, more than their own corporate hubris, is straight talk in the abstract that comes from outside their ranks. Hence this site. And there are issues afoot that they would be wise to not touch with a ten foot pole. Still, those things should have a voice.

Dean Kamen is easily bored by unimportant technologies. See his Lecture at Harvard for the full philosophical viewpoint, but the skinny note is this: Economical, non-polluting short-trip transportation that doesn't require physical expenditure equal to the distance covered, is meaningful to the future of the world. Lord knows that it has been ignored, or better yet, unachieved, before this.

Segway has been outstandingly clean in their process overall, but this site has something they can't provide; addressing controversial issues with a sense of ironic perception. Segway can't be the source of repartee, but I can.

If Truth can ever Set You Free, it will have to reveal the forces of deception before they run you down. Then again, human truths are filled with ironies. The inconsistencies of the world that are funny, if you choose to appreciate them that way. And I often do. Often, the ironies of humanity are equally appalling. I find it eternally refreshing to laugh at things which would otherwise be depressing or tragic. Then skewer them when appropriate.

Will Truth sell Segways? That's not the point. If the Segway HT is truly a Good Thing, then the truth of it will bring thinking, conscious people to its side. Otherwise, it can't be helped.

What will help is a bit of pointing to the dumb side of the idea of banning something that has been masterfully designed to overcome the specific notes these deep thinkers seek to use as arguments against it.

Here are their offered points and my own answers that are drawn from experience:

• It's dangerous:
  No it isn't. No more dangerous than another pedestrian. Show me the history of its "dangerousness."
  That history can't be demonstrated because the premise of this argument is based on a false, imagined assumption.
• It's uncontrollable.
  In your dreams, perhaps, but it actually is ultra-controllable. And it uses your whole body for motion control.
  You can walk slower on a Segway than you can walk on your feet!
• It will smash into pedestrians:
  No it doesn't. Its history shows this to be an assumption, not a fact.
• It has no brakes.
  Untrue. It has Ultra Brakes and stops faster than skates, bicycles, wheelchairs or people running at the same speeds.
• It competes for sidewalk space:
  No it doesn't. It takes up very little more room than your own body. It's as narrow as your shoulder bones and takes up significantly less room than Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it doesn't command as large a news gathering...
• It is going to hurt me:
  Wake up and smell the hydrocarbons. Other things are already hurting you much more.
• It will break my bones:
  Name one pedestrian that has suffered this from interacting with a Segway HT on a public street or sidewalk.
  One woman tried to control one that her son pushed away with his foot during a demonstration ride. She fell into a rock garden and splintered a bone in her leg. A major ouch! But not an accident caused by an experienced rider, nor was it on a public passage way.
  So far, the score of people in the US safe from broken bones due to a Segway interaction is-- 280,000,000:1, but apparently public thoroughfares aren't the arena for damage.
  It's worth noting that the only people who have been injured due to their interaction with this machine are riders or trainers. Compare that to the track records of a similar number of hours interacting with bicycles, skateboards, skates, unicycles or even wheelchairs.
• People could use it to do me harm:
  People have cars, guns, baseball bats and skateboards to do that. Start your complaint by banning the thing that does the most harm to pedestrians. Goodbye cars?
• It assaults my dignity:
  Dignify banning something you've never tried. This is a "Virgins Against Sex" argument.
  At one time in the distant past, fire was a Risky Scheme. Also the ideas of Galileo, Darwin and Einstein were heresy that assaulted the dignity of the status quo in their early days.
  There is greater dignity in legislating from a position of understanding something than in legislating to ban something you don't bother to understand.
• It causes me great fear:
  You made that up. Fear itself is what you fear. Chill.
• I don't like it:
  The shock of the new is an old story. Get to KNOW it.

Horseless carriages. Wireless broadcasting. Footstep-less short distance transportation customized to the requirements of pedestrians.

Each can be phrased as a negative description with the subject lacking something, but after the fear or negation goes away we are left with cars, radio and HTs.

So far in this little inventive drama, we have seen people rage against the HT who are coming from fearfulness untempered with thoughtfulness. Beauty fades, and stupid is forever. But Fear of the Unknown can be overcome through Understanding. You can't fear the unknown if you know it.

Political check:

Any politician that thinks they --personally-- can't understand these things from the inside out is missing a bet. Of course they can. It would even be one of the more enlightening experiences a public official would get to engage it. Good for the Six O'clock News, too.

Every relatively able bodied person can learn to glide--even politicians. And if they took the time to experience an HT for a few hours, they would realize what these things really are. Then, and only then, would they be actually qualified to vote on them for issues such as bans or regulations.

Novelty check:

Some of us are intrigued by the HT due to its faceful of new thinking. It's not a matter of, "Geez, Dean, that was quite a trick," but that sentiment is not lost on early adopters. The fun aspect is considerable. The usefulness aspect depends on where and how you plan to use it. The technology aspect is very intriguing. And the ability to participate in this quiet revolution is worth the ticket price for some.

All kidding aside, for a few sentences anyhow, I was drawn to this thing because I find that I've been inadvertently nibbling around the edges of transportation modalities all my life. Many of us have.

• I used to frequently ride a unicycle. Not exactly a blood sport, but it does get to you in a different way. I can see why Dean Kamen (inventor and unicyclist) was intrigued by this and how it presented him with an intuitive point of view, which extends to the HTs. (If you unicycle, try it behind a shopping cart: cool! Now try a Segway behind a shopping cart. Fun-eee!)
     
• I have a bicycle in my garage that hasn't had a ride in a decade. It's an unchained memory with tires suffering from flatulence.
     
• I gave the in-line skates away after hurting myself too many times with them in spite of the helmet, knee pads, and wrist and elbow protectors.
     
• I've spent 13 minutes of my life weightless. In NASA's Vomit Comet doing research. Now I know how to hold a video camera in weightlessness.
    
• I drive a convertible sometimes while playing a tape of bird songs. Freaks people out at stoplights. Do the birds only follow convertibles?

On TV, Jay Leno, Russell Crowe and Sting took to the HTs instantly and started improvising with them immediately. It looked like fun. I was curious.

I'm an inventor, too. Eight patents or so here and abroad in the field of advanced visual display. All are licensed and are being produced into interesting devices. In a way, that gives me extra appreciation of what the Segway team has done to produce the HTs. I ordered one and am interested in the process of purchase in the way other early adopters are. Now that it has arrived, the focus has turned to the HT's operational realities.

I also write technotainment. Tongue partly inserted in cheek when needed. Sense and truth required. Irony and Quirk whenever appropriate. And with a low tolerance for bull puckey. (I cleaned that up.)

From my perspective, the HT may very well herald a new frame of reference for the abstract idea of urban transportation. Or, maybe it will blow over in a month or two. My bet is on the first. What happens when this tech goes military? It's already gone postal. Stay tuned.

I wish I had one with me in Rome and Venice last year. The walking thing got old after a while (all right, already, I'm thin enough), and I can shoot pictures faster than I can walk from Point A to Point B. Would all the stair steps have been too much of a hassle? Can you Segway the Baths of Caracalla? I gotta find out.

Media check:

Right now, the earliest adopters are media magnets. They get all the interviews, sound bites and blurbs. That will soon change. Make way for Everyone.

• This summer you will spot the HTs from time to time.
• Next year you will see them quite a bit more.
• Five years from now they will be invisible from your poignant notice, the way bicyclists are now.

Nobody gets excited looking at a bicycle cruise by.

Social reform check:

• What does it mean to a world where 5% or 10% of the foot traffic is an HT?
• Is it as San Francisco fears?
• Is the road to Hell paved with good inventions?
• Or does the HT idea simply represent a new blend of personal abilities completely appropriate to sidewalk interaction?
• Will San Francisco's Supervisors get re-elected?

Campuses are trying them in quantity. Small towns are discovering what a population of these mean in the context of daily life. The world is tentatively evaluating the HT's impact. Poor choice of words...

Will glidewalks be in our future? Bike paths are for devices that don't have the intuitive control of an HT, so it's logical to keep bicycles away from the pedestrians. But what's the reality here, based not on fearful predictions--or overly optimistic ones? Can't we all glide along?

It will be very interesting to see what the HT does to video and photography as a platform for shooting pictures. Combine the SteadyCam JR and the HT, and what do you have? Hello, dolly?

And what happens to gliding along on one of these if you are dancing or playing a game?

Why, ten years from now, HTPolo may be an Olympic event. Or perhaps couples in the South will SquareGlide ("Roll-si-do your partner...").

Author check:

I write about digital photography. Two best-selling eBooks for Sony and Nikon digital cameras are available right now.

My publisher wants more. Segway Secrets has just been introduced, and some of the things seen and experienced on these pages are in that book.

The image above right was taken from an HT by the author, left.

This was the thinned-out portion of a crowd at the Venice beach front Boardwalk, two miles of thick weekend fun, exhibits, food, art and especially, thousands of people. At its thickest, the density was nearly double what you see here. Still, I was able to negotiate the crowd without a single collision. I leave those to the bicycles and skaters.

IP Alert:

Slogans and product names such as GlideWalk, Magic Welcome Mat, GlideCross Racing, Hello Dolly, The Road To Hell is Paved with Good Inventions, HTPolo, SquareGliding and others that are mentioned on this site are the property of the copyright holder for purposes of trademarking and may be placed in the public domain by him at any time for any product or service you can imagine.

The Segway™ logo. Accept no substitutes.

Q! Tell me more?

A. For now, you will have to check into the pubic forums where folks who already have the thing are chatting it up.

Here are some links:

Dean Kamen --hour-long lecture at Harvard Business School, 2002.

RealOne Player --download page for lecture plug-in.

Segway Chat (Forums) --THE place for news, views, ideas and truths.

Segway User's Group --THE other place for news, etc.

Great Segway Accessories --all sorts of useful stuff.

Washington DC Segway --A very informative site.

The Book of Segway --Huge amount of information and ideas from one of the original gliders, Phillip Torrone.

Segway Classifieds - and more...

Segway Accessories -Enhanced traction tires, anyone?

Good Press

More Good Press

Real Good Press -Wall Street Journal

Bad Press

Neutral Press

French Encounter

Side Note

Fun Press (cartoons)

Mirth

Humor

The VERY FIRST HT   And the Next

Future HT

Ordinary Movie -- Frank Tropea

Wry Sports Observation --ESPN

The DJ View --Larry Monroe

Forbes Fun --Forbes??

Segway's Home Page

DEKA's Home Page

FIRST's Home Page

Dean Kamen on NPR's Fresh Air

InfoPanic

CNN/Money

Schmegway

Time Magazine Illustration

Editorial

Thoughtful Government

Like, A Big Alternative

Going Postal

Crashing Into Stuff

Italian Perspective --in Italian

Italy 2 --also in Italian

Carry/Ship Bin --Contico

Pasadena Segway POV --"toybuilder"

Frequent Rider's Diary --John in Celebration, Florida

The Best Darned Segway Movie --Aaron Swartz's hot film

Small Town Bicycle Accident Study (PDF) --thanks to Steve Goodridge

Boston Bicycle Accident Data

New York's Safety Tips

Hand and Foot Crushed Under HT: Or Not? --Phillip Torrone

Cars Kill --Austin Bicycle Findings

Segway LA Meeting #1

The Bob's Big Boy Glide(s) --March 14, 2003 and continuing

These are good thinks to connect to because thinking is required. If you are considering an HT, read up on it as much as you can stand before ordering.

The bicycle accident studies give an idea of what to expect from the interaction of HT's in broad strokes. Especially if they are connected to bike lanes. But take them with a pinch of pepper. Bikes coast, speeding up downhill, and they decelerate less positively. HTs behave differently. The answers about safety are still cooking.

Bicyclists appear to smack into things on sidewalks more frequently than they do on the street's bike lanes. But cars kill bicyclists more convincingly than collisions with street light poles and uneven pavement on sidewalks.

And nobody has enough data on how many HT gliders fall asleep at the handlebars.

We predict that accidents will happen, just as they do to pedestrians. Automobile drivers aren't looking out for HT's especially, and this will change over time.

The HT is the new chariot. Glide safe.