Governing - The Magazine of States and Localities
Volume 16, Number 3 - December 2002
Department: "Dialogue: Letters from Readers" Page 10

SEGWAY POWER
I was happy to see your coverage of the unusual rush to approve the use of the "Segway" on sidewalks [Glimpses, September]. Unfortunately, pedestrian and bicycling advocates are not as well funded as the entrepreneur who has engineered both this motorized vehicle and its fast-track political consideration.

We are concerned that this expensive, heavy vehicle will make the use of sidewalks much less safe, causing further declines in walking throughout the United States. The best use of these motorized, bike-speed vehicles is on road shoulders and for workers inside warehouses. Also, perhaps with the hype Segway is generating, we can finally get better consideration of low-speed vehicles such as bicycles in public transportation policies.

Ivan Vamos
Board Member, New York Bicycling Coalition
Loudonville, New York