December 11, 2007
SFist Photo: Segway Traffic Jam in the Marina
This was the scene the other day on everybody's favorite piece of landfill, San Francisco's Marina District. Larger version here
Of course SUPER-visor Chris Daly took action to keep Segways off of our sidewalks about a half decade ago, but our law doesn't appear to stop folks from just driving around in bike lanes. (It doesn't seem to stop people from riding on sidewalks either, but oh well.) Anyway, you'll be seeing these things in more places soon.
The commission that said no to the Panhandle Bandshell a while back, has just said yes to Segways in Golden Gate Park. Enjoy the Channel 7 video but try not to chuckle at the part that goes, "officials say the Segway's top speed of 12.5 miles per hour is slower than most joggers." (Of course "most joggers" in the park go much slower than 12.5 mph, but oh well.)
This new rule allowing access to the park should be great news for people like the infamous stroller-pushing Segway Mom. They see me rollin'...they hatin', indeed. Look for more celebrities like Amy Tan and Steve Wozniak to be turkey fleeing, book shopping and injury avoiding on Segways. (Yes, that is our spry President George Bush taking a tumble.)
And speaking of injuries, check out this compilation video and also see how you can break three ribs here. If only we were all as skilled as these people. See you out there on your Segway PT!
| 
As if us bicyclists didn't have enough to worry about, now we gotta deal with fat-assed morons on electric chariots.
I can't believe they approved this.
I've rented a segway a couple times, if that makes me a fat-assed moron, it makes you just another aggro case on a bike, ChinaNob. So there, neener neener neener.
Segways can't go over 15, and they stop on a dime, fast enough to leave skid marks, unlike squids on skateboards, roller skates, and cyclists who stylishly remove the brakes on their bikes so they can go faster.
SF just hates Segways because of SF's at heart as conservative as Dallas, except with pot-smoking hippies and a reasonably functional mass transit system.
If you can ride a bike or manage the coordination to jog (why?!) you can ride a Segway safely. I've ridden one and it was fun, not-that-tricky and pretty easy to maneuver. I don't get why everyone thinks these things are so dangerous. I guess that makes me a 5'5", 118lb fat-ass.
why didn't daly ban bikes on sidewalks at the same time????
@ChinaNob, um, why are you so angry? like live and let live man. somehow i doubt segways are really making your life suck that much.
as long as people are trying to get out of their cars -- whether by segways or biking or whatever -- i say more power to them. we need to start thinking outside the car, and there's a lot of ways to do that ... open up your mind a little.
I think that's a tour group, not a traffic jam. I saw people wearing vests like that in a place near North Point with a huge sign that said, "Segway Tours!". I thought it would be funny to follow them a little and snap some cheeky photos. Sadly, they were apparently training and taking forever doing it. My squirrel-sized attention span drew me elsewhere before they launched.
Well it's certainly a tour group, arguably a traffic jam as well as evidenced by the wide berth other forms of traffic, such as cars and bikes, were giving the Segwavians.