Columnist Susan Snyder: Segway a sure way to danger

Friday, April 11, 2003 | 4:30 a.m.

Nevada senators this week took Southern Nevada one step closer to being a more unsafe place to walk.

And they did it without seeking comments from the one Southern Nevadan who requested to testify at Tuesday's Senate Transportation Committee hearing. At issue was Senate Bill 363, which seeks to classify a new motorized toy -- the Segway Human Transporter -- as a pedestrian.

"Let's move this bill. We have work to do," said Committee Chairman Sen. Raymond Shaffer, R-North Las Vegas.

Yes, they did. But they didn't do it.

Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, sponsored the bill, but hasn't ridden a Segway. It looks like a scooter with wheels on the ends, rather than in front and back. It is ridden standing up, powered by electricity, steered by gyroscopes and stopped by reverse torque.

With no brakes or turning radius, critics say the Segway forces pedestrians to step aside on sidewalks, which aren't intended for motorized traffic.

That infuriates Maggie Saunders, pedestrian-bicycle safety education program coordinator for the UNLV Transportation Research Center. She signed up to testify Tuesday from the Grant Sawyer State Office Building. But Shaffer never called on her.

"I am angry that I didn't get to speak. Pedestrians are marginalized as it is," Saunders said.

An administrative error prevented Shaffer from knowing Saunders was in the Las Vegas hearing room. Testimony was heard from Titus, two Segway guys and a lobbyist for a Nevada police association who had "no problem with" defining a motorized vehicle as a pedestrian.

The problem is, Segways likely will affect the Las Vegas Valley most. These kinds of toys are destined for rental to tourists on the Strip. The Segway spokesman said the company has received queries on rental fleets but didn't say from where.

Segways are an innovation. They offer a whole new way to injure pedestrians and perpetuate the nation's obesity epidemic.

Saunders has ridden a Segway and researched the issue for months. She says they are too wide and too fast to safely mix with the walking public.

"The Las Vegas metropolitan area does not have the facilities to accommodate pedestrians alone," she said. "Yet, we add the Segway too."

Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, queried the panel as Shaffer kept pushing for a vote. No study data on collisions or stopping distance was offered.

In a May 2002 report, American Academy of Pediatrics President Louis Cooper said of the Segway: "Children, senior citizens and people with disabilities shouldn't have to dodge a scooter that goes 12 miles an hour and weighs more than 90 pounds."

Proponents didn't mention him. They also didn't pass around a May 3, 2002, Atlanta Journal-Constitution photograph of a bloodied Segway rider lying on the pavement.

And if a Segway travels "only" 12.5 mph, why does SB363 set the speed limit at 15 mph? This bill has been similarly rushed through 33 other states, where some set limits of 20 mph -- far too fast for anything on a sidewalk. What is Segway not telling us about future machines?

"Segways are going to be no better than cars on the sidewalk," Saunders said.

And she walked from the Sawyer building Tuesday, unheard but correct.