Segway Pt's Are Fun To Ride

When the Segway PT was first introduced, many people thought it would be a hot commodity. That hasn't really happened. It is in limited use today in some theme parks, police forces, security guards, and tours.

Segway PT is a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle invented by Dean Kamen. It is produced by Segway, Inc. of New Hampshire. The name "Segway" is a homophone of "segue" while "PT" denotes personal transporter.

It takes minutes to learn to operate, and just a short while to really get the hang of it. The Segway PT is built to stay balanced in one place. Designed to mirror the process of human walking, if the rider standing on an initially balanced Segway leans forward, therefore upsetting the balnace, the PT moves forward to regain balance just as in walking a leg moves forward to retain balance.

A group of us took a Segway tour of San Diego not long ago, and to prove the point of how easy they are to operate and ride, 10 of us were riding with just a few minutes of instruction, and no one got hurt.

Too bad they never really took off. Actually, it would be difficult if not impossible to have a sidewalk filled with Segway riders. Disaster. A few years ago the Segway company was sold. The new owner, multi-millionaire, Jimi Heselden, was out on a Segway inspecting the grounds of his property in West Yorkshire, England. Police reported that he apparently went off a cliff and into a river below. He died from the mishap. Imagine that. Quite a tragic story. Heselden was a philantropic man, worth over 166 million GBP. He had donated over 23 million GBP to charitable causes over his lifetime. This is such an ironic story, I just had to share it. When our guide originally told us this story, I thought it might just be an urban legend, but unfortunately it is true. For the most part Segways are very safe and great fun.