Paul Rowen MP Defends Segways in Public Affairs News
Added 09/10/2009Launched in a blaze of global publicity
nearly eight years ago, Segways – the controversial ‘two-wheeled self-balancing
electric vehicles’ – continue to await a legislative green light for use on public highways in the UK.
Cavendish Communications, which is lobbying
for their UK distributor, invited PAN to test the device in the House of Lords car park, alongside Segway-UK’s Wayne Mitchell, Ben Hedley from ‘carbon offset’ company Clear, and parliamentarians including Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik.
Countdown to ‘S-Day’
Opik – whose distinctive features have become Segway’s unofficial parliamentary face – led a “12-man convoy” in a protest drive last year from Parliament to the Department for Transport
(DfT), where he delivered a note calling for their approval.
Now Opik plans to raise the PR stakes by taking
the lead role in a planned ‘S-Day’ (Segway Day), scheduled for the next few weeks.
Declaring himself to be “absolutely pig-sick of the cowardice of the DfT when it comes to
Segways – they always give us a vague and unspecified
rejection of the technology without explaining
why”, Opik is aiming to be photographed
on S-Day riding a Segway around Parliament Square and Millbank, with the evidence to be handed
in at Charing Cross police station along with a request for Opik’s arrest. If, after half an hour, no arrest is forthcoming, Opik will “regard Segways as legal in this country – as I already do”.
But should the Met’s finest arrive to take
Opik to the cells, then he will go willingly. “If they arrest me, bring it on. I am very happy to be a Segway martyr in the interests of commuting, the ecology and common sense.”
Opik continues: “It has been approved by over 1,000 security forces across the world and hundreds of thousands of users, but the British
government tell us they may not be legal.
Unfortunately they’re unable to point at a single
piece of legislation that says they are illegal.
We’ve had enough.”
Segway-UK is working with Cavendish to make the case to the Department for Transport (DfT) for Segways to finally be approved for use in Britain’s public space.
Having lobbied for Segway since the Road Safety Bill arrived in Parliament at the end of 2005, Cavendish’s Murray Stewart
acknowledges the apparently “slow progress” on the issue but says he is encouraged by the “solid cross-party support” that has built up behind Segways.
Stewart is calling for the DfT to hold a trial to “see for itself just how safe a Segway is”. Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, is known to have sampled one – but Stewart wants an official test. “Most other countries have brought this forward, so it’s about time that we hold a trial,” Stewart explains, pointing out that use of Segways is now permitted in Holland and Sweden.
He must also contend with the cycling lobby, who after a long campaign for their own cycle lanes are loathe to share their space, while the motor
industry is yet to be convinced.
Stewart’s current public affairs approach inevitably
involves trying to align the campaign to
the government’s green goals. He sounds hopeful
that a Conservative government may prove more amenable: “The shadow transport and Defra team have been enthused, but whether they will commit is another question. Our next task is to seriously talk to them; to try to get them to include it in that 2010 programme.”
Lord Elton joins in
As Lord Liverpool – a Segway enthusiast –
motors around the car-park, an inquisitive passer-by, 79-year-old former Tory minister Lord Elton, asks to join in. Despite a bad back, he takes to the Segway with ease. A “proud owner” for three years since he saw a US policeman using one, Lord Liverpool says his Segway-supporting speeches in the Upper House see only the government argue against him.
Opik, back in command of the Segway, is explaing
his S-Day plans to a passing policeman. “There isn’t a word of legislation in the British statute that points to their illegality,” he concludes. “I’m confident
enough to put my Segway where my mouth is and challenge them in a final stand-off.”
After returning to the office, PAN called the DfT, which responds that it has concerns about Segways’ safety but that it has a “constructive relationship
with Segway promoters and is considering what further evidence would be needed to inform decisions on any changes to current policies”.
The present, then, remains an uncertain place
for the so-called vehicle of the future. Best make a date for Opik’s great Segway showdown.
• A Segway’s top speed is 12.5 miles per hour; it has a range of up to 24 miles; it takes up to eight hours to recharge once the batteries have run down
• The Segway i2 transporter costs £4,795; the
Segway x2 transporter costs £4,895
• More than 1,000 police departments and security
agencies use the Segway PT worldwide