Segway Hearing Requested by Councilor LaMattina
Saturday, September 19, 2009 City Councilor Sal LaMattina is calling for a hearing to discuss how the City should accommodate increasing Segway use on city streets and sidewalks. Segways are the 2-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicles uses for personal transportation. These upright mobility devices can reach speeds up to 13 miles per hour.
Some interesting notes from the hearing request:
Segways were initially used by police but have now grown into the business and general population market for daily use.
Boston Segway Tours offers these highlights for $85/person
(Click image for more information)Private tour companies have become increasingly more reliant on Segway guided tours through the City, disrupting parts of the North End and Beacon Hill neighborhoods, with respect to pedestrian traffic.
Other citys have Segway restrictions on sidewalks and footpaths. 42 states have some sort of legislation regulating Segways. Some states also have a minimum age requirement.
Massachusetts has been unable to enact legislation so LaMattina is asking the City of Boston to take the lead to protect the safety of pedestrians, motorists and Segway users.
Attractions, Politics, Public Safety/Crime/Legal 
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Reader Comments (3)
Just like joggers, or bicycles, or any other thing that involves human decision, some will use them with courtesy, and others will be discourteous. Segways are just the tool of the person using it...
Like many things, a law that defines how they should be used is perfectly reasonable. Most every other state in the United States, and many countries around the world, have simple and reasonable rules about how they should fit into society, like that they should yield to folks on foot, they should follow the other pedestrian rules...
I believe that they should be encouraged, as each person on a segway, is a person who is not in a car... More traffic in the North End is hardly a solution to much any problem...
Kept in perspective, a segway is a tool. Like all tools, if used well with care, good things happen. If used poorly without care, bad things happen. Publish rules for how people should use this tool, but do not start to blame the segway, it is simply a thing... If you don't like something that a person on a segway did, blame the person, in the same way that if a person in a car does something you don't like, you blame the driver, not the car...