New York City Council Hearing Testimony
I’m a member of the New York chapter of Segway Enthusiasts Group America, a grass-roots national community of Segway Human Transporter (HT) owners and enthusiasts.
One of our main missions is to educate citizens, governments, and our youth on the characteristics and potentials of Segway technology. Our organization seeks to maintain people’s freedom to use alternative transportation options like the Segway HT and to increase community awareness of the benefits of those alternatives.
The Council findings and intent, expressed in Intro Number 98, speak of motorized scooters which “travel up to forty miles per hour and cannot be maneuvered safely at these speeds,” which “difficulty of control poses risks to operators, pedestrians and vehicular traffic in the streets of the City.”
Intro 98 is designed to eliminate the danger created by these fast motorized scooters with vehicle-like (or worse) maneuverability. We are concerned that the definition of “motorized scooter” in the proposal is written so broadly that it also includes safe, sensible transportation alternatives as well. One of these is the Segway HT.
The Segway HT has operating characteristics similar to those of a human, rather than those of a motorized scooter.
A person takes up roughly the same amount of room utilizing a Segway HT as they do without the device. At rest, a Segway HT balances in place like a standing person. While moving forward, the Segway HT keeps underneath its rider. And like a human, the Segway HT turns in place, without impact to any nearby object or person.
In contrast, motorized scooters cannot balance in place, make wide turns, and at high speeds are difficult to maneuver.
In short, the Segway HT moves like a person moves, not like a motorized scooter moves.
The Segway HT is utilized by federal and state government officials across the nation, in areas as diverse as law enforcement, mail and package delivery, and airport security. With permissive legislation in over forty states and Washington DC, people all across the country have found the Segway HT to be a sensible, safe, and environmentally friendly transportation solution.
The Segway HT also provides life-changing benefits to major segments of our disabled community, restoring balance and dignity to many of our elderly and less-abled neighbors.
In this city of constant traffic congestion, the Segway HT provides a safe, environmentally sensible transportation alternative. SEG America urges the Council to clarify the definition of “motorized scooter” in Intro 98, so that it does not include the Segway HT.
