Friday, May 7, 2004 | 8:36 a.m.
I still think the best thing about a Segway scooter is that President Bush fell off one last year.
We probably should buy them for the White House staff and the entire national press corps, then turn them loose at the same time in the Rose Garden.
Blindfolded.
However, we also should remember two things about Segways:
They're enormously fun to ride, which means most people will want to.
And Nevada lawmakers in 2003 made it legal to ride them on sidewalks by defining them as pedestrians, so people will ride them.
The question now is which people will ride them? Only those who can afford the $4,000 price tag, or do we add the guy from Toledo who rents one on the Strip after consuming his yard o' beer?
I have ridden a Segway. They are simple to operate, as long as one has good balance and quick reaction skills. These are not typically enhanced by alcohol consumption or the sleep-deprivation from a Megabucks machine all-nighter.
But they can be programmed to avoid traveling above a certain speed. And 6 mph is the limit on the Segways being rented for $1 per minute in an enclosed area outside Fashion Show mall. County business license regulations currently block the path of Segway rentals on the Strip.
The dilemma is similar to one that faced the pedicab industry, which was barred from the Strip in February by a proposal from the county business license office. Why do we regulate new modes of transportation with business license people rather than public safety people?
This is a public safety issue.
The Segway is precarious to stop and has a very sensitive turning mechanism that makes really tight turns. People need more than a few minutes of practice before taking them onto a crowded sidewalk.
Still, because Segways make turns tighter than a bicycle, they offer an alternative for security personnel working in mall-type environments. Guards at the valley's two outlet malls already use them. But people trained to use them for work every day aren't tourists out for a joy ride.
It's a debate worth a few bucks. Go ride the Segways at Fashion Show at top speed and try to stop exactly where you intend to. Be honest with yourself about whether you actually hit the mark. And remember you are traveling no faster than 6 mph.
We don't allow motorized scooters of the conventional design, but we allow the Segways with side-by-side wheels. Bicyclists must walk in crosswalks, but a Segway owner riding a machine capable of traveling 20 mph does not.
Pedestrian advocates oppose the Segway for the sake of walkers' safety, yet also want all child bicyclists to use the sidewalk. Truth is, all motorized scooters and bicycles make lousy walking companions. They move too fast. Even 6 mph is faster than people walk.
The Segway is forcing us to reconsider how we regulate and define transportation. It is something we should have discussed before we jumped on the it's-fun-to-ride bandwagon and called it a pedestrian.
But whatever happens next, we need to be making the decisions based on discussions with transportation and public safety officials, not business license officials.
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