Skip to comments.
Segway scooters banned in SF
SF Gate ^
| 11/25/02
Posted on 11/26/2002 5:02:00 PM PST by Diddle E. Squat
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:41:27 AM PDT by Jim Robinson.
[history]
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-96 next last
To: spodefly
ROTFLMAO!
Do you have another of him traveling San Francisco's hills?
Perhaps flying into the air when going downhill,
just like those car-chase scenes in the movies.
To: Diddle E. Squat
While the 8-2 vote would normally be just enough to override a veto should Mayor Willie Brown take that step... Don't be surprised if Brown vetoes this ordinance. It all depends on the size of campaign contribution (or other payoff) he can shake Segway down for. (And nobody does it better than Willie Brown, not even Gray Davis.)
42
posted on
11/26/2002 6:23:26 PM PST
by
dpwiener
To: Willie Green
43
posted on
11/26/2002 6:24:50 PM PST
by
spodefly
To: spodefly
Close, but I was thinking in terms of getting him airborne, like this:
To: DoughtyOne
This is so narrowminded. Are wheelchairs going to be outlawed as well?
strangely, cablecars have escaped the scrutiny of the safety zealots
45
posted on
11/26/2002 6:38:39 PM PST
by
gusopol3
To: Diddle E. Squat
Lawmakers determined to clean up San Francisco are taking on the homeless who use the streets of one America's top tourist destinations as a public toilet.
Residents were surprised to learn that no ban exists on urinating and defecating in the streets.
An estimated 12,000 homeless people live in the city and police have until now had little success in preventing them from relieving themselves on the sidewalks.
Until now police have sought to prosecute offenders under anti-waste dumping laws but judges threw out most of the 1,100 citations issued to the homeless in 2000, ruling the laws applied to garbage, not to human waste.
Imagine the lawsuits if a Segway rider spun out in a pile of homeless droppings. Or the braking problems after whizzing thru a pool of yellow fluid. San Fransisco has made the right decision,it is for the children.
46
posted on
11/26/2002 6:42:11 PM PST
by
ijcr
To: Paul Atreides; Registered
Hey guys, you just gotta see spodefly's excellent work on #39.
To: Diddle E. Squat
While I'm no fan of anything SF does, I will go on-record as saying the Segway is a really bad idea, at least with regard to sidewalks.
Consider this. Here's the spec sheet on what seems to be the baseline model: http://www.segway.com/segway/specs_iseries.html
Top speed, 12.5 mph. Base weight, 83 pounds. Now, I go about 170 - 172 pounds, so combined, with me riding the thing at top speed, we have about 255 pounds traveling 12.5 miles per hour on a sidewalk.
So if I recall correctly from high school physics that Force = Mass x (Velocity squared), and convert the values to metric to do an actual mass calculation, we wind up with:
255 pounds = 116 kg
12.5 miles per hour = 20 kph
So we wind up with Force = 116 * (20 squared) = 46400 Newtons, I think. What does that equal? A sledgehammer swung full-strength by a lumberjack?
So what's going to happen the first time a yuppie answering a cell phone, getting distracted, impacts a pedestrian from behind at full speed? Look at the design of the thing - it's either going to smack them with that handlebar point somewhere in the region of the shoulder blades, easily snapping their spine or crushing their shoulder, and likely causing an impact arrythmia of the heart similar to what kids sometimes get from a fastball to the chest. Or, if the pedestrians somewhat more "lucky," it'll just clip them with the lower portion at around the region of the ankle-to-shin, leaving them with a probably fatal compound fracture.
I think this is a very likely scenario. How many times in the course of, say, a week, do you almost run smack-dab into someone else walking full speed, while rounding a corner, or because either of you were distracted? I know, usually you don't actually run into them, but only because your body is able to react in all manner of incredible ways to dodge the impact - and even then, ONLY if either or both of you actually look up and notice in time. So think about the amount of time, however miniscule, it takes to transmit, via leaning or whatever, your intention to this machine. What is it? A millionth of a second? Doubtful - probably at least 1/10th, and even then only if you're expert at it. More than enough time to leave a pedestrian a broken heap.
I expect at least $3000 of the asking price is for liability insurance alone. I won't ride the things, and don't think I'll feel too safe sharing the sidewalks with them.
To: Willie Green
49
posted on
11/26/2002 7:00:51 PM PST
by
spodefly
To: Diddle E. Squat
Its too bad Gary Larson is retired
He coulda had fun with a segeway cartoon
To: DoughtyOne
"The wheelchair that this guy came up with first is amazing." If this Segway is as easy to manuever as they say, seems to me there is a huge potential for elderly care. People who can still stand and walk a bit, but not capable of much distance walking.
Who wants to be seen in a wheelchair or behind a walker? Take the Segway! If either of my parents needed something like this, I would lay out the 4 grand in a heart beat.
The kids and I would be fighting over who's turn is next. Hey Grampa! Charge up the Segway! We're coming over for a visit!
51
posted on
11/26/2002 7:12:17 PM PST
by
Bob Mc
To: Objective Reality
A good reference regarding my previous post:
http://www.icdri.org/News/segwayacb.htm
Testimony from Gary Smith, Director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Childrens Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
To: spodefly
LOL!
That's the 2nd time somebody's caught me drinking coca-cola.
I gotta cut that out while I'm on the computer,
I just got a new keyboard not long ago, and now I gotta clean it again.
To: Diddle E. Squat
Nice piece of leftist bullcrap!
I have COPD*. I can't walk 50 yards without stopping for a breather. A Segway would increase my mobility and actually cause me to get more exercise.
We have to stop this kind of stupid legislation
*My COPD was caused by a double lungfull of Chlorine gas in 1994. (In January, 1993, I could run one and a half miles and finish the last 1/4 mile in a sprint - I was 53 years old then.)
To: Diddle E. Squat
San Francisco supervisors today banned the use of the Segway Scooter on city sidewalks, agreeing with senior advocates that the new technology poses a threat to the old, the young, and the disabled.![](http://richard.hofer.com/images/public_urination.jpg)
Public urination, however, continues to be readily accepted.
To: Objective Reality
There simply is no place to ride this thing. It's too slow for traffic, too dangerous for sidewalks. In golfing communities where you have cart paths, fine.
For that kind of money, I can hire four guys to carry me around on a throne.
To: ijcr
I was thinking the same thing. There are so many "sidewalk surprises" in San Fransicko that there would be no way to ride one of these things for more than a block before you would spin out in a pile of bum droppings, probably to end up face down in a puddle of bum urine, before having your pockets picked by a posse of bums.
Not to mention, could you see the performance put on by the first bum who got touched by one of these things? "Oh, the pain, oh, the agony" they would scream as they writhed on the ground after having their hair mussed by the breeze created as you went by. Next thing you know five lawyers are giving the bastard their business cards and then you end up in court being sued for everything you own.
No, San Fransicko made the right decision by banning Segways from their sidewalks.
To: Diddle E. Squat
It's all academic, methinks. There is nothing to ban and there won't be for a while. Who's gonna ride 'em $5K (plus steep California sales tax) things? The unemployed dotcommers from South of Market? Leather queens from the same area? Winoes, also from the same part of town? Odd, the skateboarders and bicycle messengers have been more of a menace, but hey, bitching about them that don't get ya on the 6 o'clock news!
To: Diddle E. Squat
What? Something new? Find a way to regulate it, ban it, or tax it!
59
posted on
11/26/2002 7:36:01 PM PST
by
IronJack
To: zcat
For you fellow Kalifornicate FReepers, I would rather be giving you a 24 hour notice prior to nuking your stupid socialist controlled state!And we could only hope that the fallout would blow straight into frigid, wind blown Michigan, killing all!
Gee, isn't wishing for death and destruction on American's fun! Hee Haw!
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-96 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson