When the then 50-year old Dean Kamen introduced his weird looking “car” to the general public back in 2001, he saw a revolutionizing device that would change the future of transport. Soon, many technology visionaries has also put their bets on the tiny two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle more famously known as SEGWAY.
Kamen’s Segway has had an increase of users recently as it offers an alternative mode of transport, that is quick and environmentally friendly, around cities. Unfortunately, the a British court in Cudworth, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, did not think so.
District Judge Michael Rosenberg has ruled out the use of Segway on public pavements believing that the two-wheeled machines are motor vehicles. But the British Government does not allow Segways to be ridden legally on public roads either, leaving their use restricted to private land.
The ruling came after 51 year old Phillip Coates was caught by a civilian police employee riding his Segway on a pavement and then later on the road in February last year. According to reports the
unemployed factory worker had tried one out while on holiday in Florida, and bought his own model for shopping trips and travelling to work. Coates was fined £75 for the offense.
Meanwhile, Coates’s lawyer, Victoria Molloy, said: “We are disappointed with the verdict. We have been given a written judgment so we’d like some time to digest that and then we’ll decide where to take it from there.”
Former Liberal Democrat MP, Lembit Opik, was also against the ruling calling it “ridiculous” as he turned up at court on his own Segway during the hearing. He said that vehicle should be allowed on the road like bicycles. “It’s up to the Government to explain why it is allowing this farce of uncertainty to continue,” he said.
The £5,000 machines, which made news last year when Jimi Heselden, a tycoon who led a British takeover of the American Segway firm, died after falling from a cliff while riding one of his machines, is legal on pavements in more than 40 US states as well as countries across Europe.
But under Highway Act 1835 of the British law, Segway are classed as motor vehicles. Coates was the first person in the country to be charged with “wilfully” riding a Segway on the footpath contrary to Section 72 of the Highways Act 1835. He was fined £75 and also ordered by the court to pay £250 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Last year the Department of Transport held a consultation over the question of “Whether the law should be changed to permit small one-person Electric Personal Vehicles to use public roads and cycle tracks”. Almost three-quarters of respondents, including the 1,671 signatories to a “legalise Segways” petition, were in favour of permitting them on roads and cycle tracks. It was pointed out that the machines take up less space than cars, help disabled people and are used in other countries.
