Which way Segway?

Byline: The Register-Guard

HAVE YOU ridden one of those new Segway electric scooters yet? Neither have we. And neither, we suspect, have the members of the Oregon Senate. But that won't stop the senators from considering a bill that would allow the two-wheeled contraptions on sidewalks, bike paths and roadside bike lanes. How about seeing whether any problems arise before attempting to solve them?

A New Hampshire inventor's company unveiled the Segway Human Transporter in 2001. The unveiling was preceded by a swirl of rumors about a new mode of transportation more revolutionary than the automobile. The scooter - electrically powered, gyroscopically balanced and capable of speeds up to 12.5 mph - will have trouble living up to those expectations, but it was certainly one of the most masterfully staged product rollouts in history.

Equally masterful has been the Segway company's success in getting governments to accommodate the scooters before anyone has seen them. Thirty-three states have passed laws allowing the Segway on sidewalks and bike lanes. A few governments have gone the other direction - San Francisco, for instance, has banned the scooters from city sidewalks, requiring them to obey the same traffic rules as other motorized vehicles. No word yet on how many municipalities have rushed to regulate jet packs and Star Trek-style transporter devices.

All of the arguments in the Segway debate sound sensible. The Segway doesn't belong in street traffic, one line of reasoning goes, because it's so much slower than cars and motorcycles and because riders are unprotected. Others point out that in many cases the Segway is also slower than a bicycle, so bicyclists might have to swerve into traffic if they had to share narrow bike lanes with scooter riders. Still others say that the Segway doesn't belong on sidewalks, because at 12.5 mph riders would whiz noiselessly past pedestrians without even the warning rumble of a kid on a skateboard.

So where does the Segway fit in the transportation mix? Maybe the thing to do is wait and see. At $5,000 apiece, neither the streets nor the sidewalks are likely to be crowded with Segways anytime soon. If the price comes down, Oregon's rainy weather or the scooter's limited range (11 to 17 miles between battery charges) may restrict the Segway's appeal. By the time the Segway really catches on, if indeed it ever does, Oregonians will have gained some understanding of how the scooters are actually used, of their compatibility with other modes of transport, and of the effectiveness of other states' regulations.

The Senate proposal is premature, though it has already succeeded in one respect: At least the first Oregon legislation relating to the Segway won't be a proposal to tax the things.