Segway tourists in bike lanes

[pfunkallstar]

Yesterday I was in the bike lane on Pennsylvania Avenue heading towards the White House when a gaggle (15 or so) of Segwayers pulled on. The guide proceeded to slow to a crawl to explain the history of the Old Post Office while his charges struck up a solid three-Segway-wide wall across the bike lanes. I was able to get around them eventually but it was pretty annoying and the guide gave me the stink eye. Are they legally allowed to give tours WHILE IN the bike lanes? I can understand them using them to get from A to B, but gathering the flock across the lanes seems pretty inconsiderate. Has anyone else run into these guys?

Topic

[Tim Kelley]

Here’s an article from earlier this summer on this: http://www.tbd.com/blogs/tbd-on-foot/2011/07/segways-zoom-on-d-c-bike-lanes-mdash-and-it-s-legal–11959.html

[WillStewart]

I would call out when trying to pass “You’re blocking the bike lane!”. The more often they hear this, the more they’ll realize their error.

[Dirt]

So pretending that they’re bowling pins and I’m a bowling ball is a bad thing, right?

Totally joking.

Love,

Pete

[jabberwocky]

@Dirt 8379 wrote:

So pretending that they’re bowling pins and I’m a bowling ball is a bad thing, right?

Don’t you have a picture someplace of me using a gaggle of segway riders as a mobile bike handling course?

[DSalovesh]

Roll up to a group of stopped Segway tourists.

Trackstand. Don’t acknowledge the tourists.

Drift slowly backwards, staring off into the distance.

Try not to laugh when the machines start spiraling in reaction to the mixed signals from perplexed newbie Segway riders. I’ve only ever seen one rider step off because of it…

[WillStewart]

Segways by Virginia definition are electric personal assistive mobility devices that are not allowed in bike lanes, nor on streets with a speed limit over 25mph.
Indeed, they are relegated to sidewalks where they exist.

http://www.virginiadot.org/programs/bk-laws.asp

Here is a summary of the DC laws;

http://dmv.washingtondc.gov/info/forms/NontraditionalMotorVehiclechart_pdf.shtm

[DSalovesh]

(Segways irk me in general – I have a hard time discussing them at any length without degenerating into a mad rant, but I’ll try…)

Scanning a few traffic regs, the definition of “electric personal assistive mobility device” is model language that circularly describes Segways, and only Segways (via terms like “self-balancing two-nontandem-wheeled device”). If Honda’s U3-X is ever commercially available it will not be an EPAMD because it has just one wheel, and the T3 devices in use by some security services and police departments wouldn’t be allowed because they aren’t self-balancing (and have too many wheels).

Under that faux-generic name, EPAMDs are allowed in many places where no other motorized vehicle can legally go, including INSIDE some public buildings and on multi-use paths. In DC they are allowed on roadways, in or out of bike lanes, AND on sidewalks except in the CBD. (By the way, the maximum power output rating of a Segway is about ten times that of an elite cyclist, and more than twice the maximum allowed for mopeds – if it wasn’t for the special PMD category these would technically qualify as motorcycles!)

Without prejudice against the legitimate protections of the ADA, I really have to wonder just how much Dean Kamen wound up paying for that statutory monopoly to be inserted in our legal system. Especially considering they’ve never really caught on as personal vehicles, assistive or otherwise, it simply isn’t right that commercial tour operations can take advantage of the otherwise reasonable assumptions of accommodation that have led to these abominations being mentioned even by inference in our laws.

The good news is that instead of the projected 50,000 sales per year imagined in 2002 they’ve only put out closer to 50,000 in total so we’ve been spared from redesigning entire cities, but I was worried for a bit that bicycles, with their crude human powered and human balanced tandem wheels, might eventually be legislated out of existence just like cars.

Has a Segway tour group on the mall ever been tasered by USPP? Been challenged for jeopardizing the Tourmobile franchise? Have city council members called for lights, flag runners, and seat (er, foot) belts on rental Segways? Where is the Hoveround lobby in all this? Why don’t swarms of powerchairs parade down Pennsylvania Ave? If evolution was a fact (my child has asked) why haven’t our legs fallen off now that we don’t need to walk anywhere?

(Nope, still can’t do it.)

[Fallguy51]

How long do you figure it will be before one or more Seggers are struck by a tourmobile bus (or larger vehicle) and seriously injured or killed because they were rolling around out in traffic instead of on the sidewalk? Sedways were intended to enhance the mobility of pedestrians, not become public nuisances… And if they’re bunched up in a bike lane listening to the group leader, they aren’t paying attention to the cars, truck, and busses zooming past. Same oblivious nature as when they’re in their cars with the windows rolled up and a cd player in the background while they yack on their cell phone…

[eminva]

I was waiting to meet a friend on G Street a couple of days ago and saw a gaggle of Segways pass through on the bike lane. Within the block that I watched, they encountered the typical bike lane obstacles: a car double parked in the bike lane (they had to swing out into traffic to pass) and several cars “right hooking” the Segway line into a parking garage entrance. The tour guide seemed to be particularly concerned about one rider and was holding her by the shoulder most of the way. But others at the back of the line were getting separated from the group as cars pulled in and out of garages. Didn’t look too safe or fun to me.

Oh, and the tour guide had on a helmet, but the straps were unfastened.

Can’t imagine what the insurance must run on an operation like that.

Liz

[Greenbelt]

The S-things seem like a relatively minor annoyance to me — worthy of some ridicule, but less dangerous overall than clueless, inattentive, speeding, or aggressive drivers. I haven’t seen any S-thing riders being crazy fast or careless, other than cops occasionally. Like us, and scooter riders (which can also be annoying with their fumes), S-thing riders are relatively vulnerable road users, so in a sense, they’re our non-exerting kin.

I sort of chalk it up as part of the joys and trials of working in a major tourist zone. My favorite are the Ducks tours amphibious trucks — I love pulling up beside them and exclaiming to the passengers, “Those things don’t really float, you know!”

[CCrew]

I find it to definitely be Karma that they guy that bought Segway died when he drove his off a cliff…

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/segway-owner-dies-in-segway-crash/

[mstone]

@eminva 8631 wrote:

Can’t imagine what the insurance must run on an operation like that.

Very little; in the event of a serious incident, the company just disappears and leaves no significant assets. Same principle explains why the $1 bus companies can save so much on driver training and insurance versus greyhound–the latter has actual physical assets to go after.

[Author]

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