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Segway Hearing Requested by Councilor LaMattina

City Councilor Sal LaMattina is calling for a hearing to discuss how the City should accommodate increasing Segway use on city streets and sidewalks. Segways are the 2-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicles uses for personal transportation. These upright mobility devices can reach speeds up to 13 miles per hour.

Some interesting notes from the hearing request:

Segways were initially used by police but have now grown into the business and general population market for daily use.

segwaytour

Boston Segway Tours offers these highlights for $85/person
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Private tour companies have become increasingly more reliant on Segway guided tours through the City, disrupting parts of the North End and Beacon Hill neighborhoods, with respect to pedestrian traffic.

Other citys have Segway restrictions on sidewalks and footpaths. 42 states have some sort of legislation regulating Segways. Some states also have a minimum age requirement.

Massachusetts has been unable to enact legislation so LaMattina is asking the City of Boston to take the lead to protect the safety of pedestrians, motorists and Segway users.

3 Replies to “Segway Hearing Requested by Councilor LaMattina

  1. Number one issue is the tourist use of sidewalks as a running pad. These vehicles need to yield to others pedestrians in all cases. Many users get caught p in the sheer joy of the ride, thinking people are going to get out of the way. Not all tourists are very good at navigating City streets as it is. I find these vehicles a nuissance.

  2. Segways are no different than any other item you will find in daily life, other than they are technologically superior to most conveyances of today… In the future, they will be common place, or something like them will be.

    Just like joggers, or bicycles, or any other thing that involves human decision, some will use them with courtesy, and others will be discourteous. Segways are just the tool of the person using it…

    Like many things, a law that defines how they should be used is perfectly reasonable. Most every other state in the United States, and many countries around the world, have simple and reasonable rules about how they should fit into society, like that they should yield to folks on foot, they should follow the other pedestrian rules…

    I believe that they should be encouraged, as each person on a segway, is a person who is not in a car… More traffic in the North End is hardly a solution to much any problem…

    Kept in perspective, a segway is a tool. Like all tools, if used well with care, good things happen. If used poorly without care, bad things happen. Publish rules for how people should use this tool, but do not start to blame the segway, it is simply a thing… If you don’t like something that a person on a segway did, blame the person, in the same way that if a person in a car does something you don’t like, you blame the driver, not the car…

  3. They are a vehicle somewhere between a bicycle and a car and should therefore should be kept off the sidewalks. It’s dangerous to have them on the sidewalks, especially when driven by people who are unfamiliar with both the vehicle and the neighborhood. I think they are an interesting tourism idea, just keep them on the street where they belong.

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