Early in the spring 2002 session the Chair of the powerful House Corporations Committee was persuaded to sponsor a bill to allow the electric Segway scooters unlimited access to pedestrian facilities. The only restrictions were that users had to be 16 years or older, to warn pedestrians they were overtaking with an audible signal, and were limited to 15mph. The company says the product they intend to market can only go about 12.5 mph though Philly Walks is concerned that it can be designed to go 20mph. The Washington Post reported the devices weigh 69 to 95 pounds, so even at 12.5mph that is considerable momentum. The bill had no requirements for licensing, registration, liability insurance, or for any enforcement provisions of the limited restrictions. A hearing was held on this before anyone in the bike or pedestrian advocacy community, including the RI Sierra Club, was even aware of it, and it passed the House Corporations Committee.

The RI Sierra Club did hear about the bill before it came to a floor vote and decided to oppose the bill as written, believing it could hurt its pedestrian advocacy efforts by making walking both more disagreeable and more dangerous. One of the local Club's priority campaigns, encouraging walking to school, would certainly have been set back if sidewalks were given over to these vehicles as children might be especially at risk.

We received messages from the Center for Injury Research and Policy noting that because such legislation has been introduced simultaneously in so many states, the injury prevention community was unable to respond quickly enough to voice safety concerns about the untested devices. This is particularly of concern since children, the elderly, the disabled, and those that must walk, are most at risk. Depending on the provisions governing their use, the scooter users too may be at risk, especially at intersections,

Bicycle interest groups also had concerns. The League of American Bicyclists had urged postponement of similar legislation pending at the national level, until its potential benefits, risks, and impacts are more thoroughly examined. There is also a concern that once some electric motor scooters are allowed on bike paths, it opens the door to legal and illegal pressure to allow fossil-fuel powered scooters on the paths also, as has indeed been reported to have happened in California.

Pedestrian advocacy groups also had concerns. Walk America noted that no one should be traveling faster than the speed of pedestrians on the sidewalks. The National Center for Bicycling and Walking noted that obesity rates were already rising and people need to walk more, not less. There was concern that those with fast, heavy vehicles would overpower and intimidate those walking, or enjoying sidewalks for conversation, window shopping, strolling.

RI Sierra Club leaders asked the lobbyist for the state's Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to help defeat the bill as it would open the bike paths they manage to motor vehicles. But their lobbyist indicated DEM could not oppose that because they heard the scooter bill was a big priority for the House Corporations Committee Chair and he would block legislation in his Committee that was much more important to DEM.

The day of the RI House floor vote, the comapny brought a Segway to the legislature and their sponsor showed it off to all who would ride. When asked to demosntrate it at 12.5 mph instead of the 3mph or so it would go, the company representative said it was keyed to only go at the slower speed and he did not have the capability of increasing it. At the speed demonstrated, the pace of a pedestrian, it did not seem scary. Though the demonstration was misleading (deliberately in my opinion) the House did pass the bill narrowly, by 42 to 36.

The Chair of the Senate Coproarations Committee where the bill then went said he was doubtful about this legislation, but under pressure from his House counterpart would take a closer look. The Segway Company had hired a big time professional lobbyist (who also represents utilities and such) and there were negotiations including him, the State Police, the Club, and the head of the Governor's Commission on Disabilities which also had concerns that there be enough room on the sidewalks to accomodate those in wheelchairs. The bill that finally passed the Senate Corporations Committee took all those concerns into account, allowed local towns to regulate the scooters, and until further action by the legislature, restricted their use on sidewalks, bike paths and trails to government agencies including law enforcement. With these restrictions the RI Sierra Club withdrew opposition and the amended bill passed the Senate and then the House.

However, apparently realizing the restrictions looming in the Senate, in the last days of the session the Segway folks quietly struck back. The House sponsor, without allowing any comment, passed an amendment to another bill on elctric vehicles in his Committee to allow unrestricted access to the Segways, and on the last day of the session when dozens of bills passed with little debate or attention, this bill too passed both the House, and (somehow!) without going to a Committee, the Senate.

So our legislature passed conflicting versions. We asked the Governor to veto the bill giving unrestricted access to the scooters, but inexplicably (we had thought the Governor was proud of his promotion of bike paths) he allowed both to become law. At this point, the state's Law Revision Office is rewriting the code that will eventually be in the state law, but they cannot, or will not, tell me whether or not the restrictions will be put into the law.

It is incredible that an out-of-state company can have such influence over our laws for a product not yet even marketed or tested, that has the potential to destroy the pedestrian environment and the value of our bike paths as a place for non-motrized recreation and travel.

If the Segway lobbysists come to your state, beware. Do not trust them to live up to their compromises.

Barry Schiller, Rhode Island Sierra Club Transportation Chair
August 12, 2002

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* Conservation Law Foundation Transportation Project
* Visit CLF on the web: http://www.clf.org/transportation