In a case of 10mph.com-comes-to-Belfast, a Segway scooter was spotted in Belfast yesterday. Unfortunately, no photos from Belfast—just an eye-witness report.A man was riding a Segway scooter into Belfast Central Station yesterday. If ever we needed proof that Belfast was becoming a cosmopolitan hot spot!
Of course, there's always a problem with any innovation. In this case, the legality of being spotted riding a "human transporter" on the UK streets is doubtful. The BBC news website's Magazine coincidentally reports today that Segways are banned from both UK pavements and roads. They say: "The Department for Transport (DfT) has invoked the Highway Act of 1835 to ban it from pavements, and EU vehicle certification rules it off roads."
EU vehicle certification would require a registration plate and headlights, neither of which affix easily to the front or back of a Segway. Oh, and proper insurance.
So the only self-balancing scooters we'll see in Belfast will be in the QFT if it agrees to screen 10mph.com.
2 comments:
Finally, nothing can get in the way of obesity overwhelming NI. We have managed to elimate walking, the one universal form of exercise......
*j*
Hopefully with the gen2 machines, this draconian decision can be overturned. Several other countries in Europe has embraced this fantastic technology. I wonder if Segway was built in the UK would the decision have been different. And apparently when the Department for Transport were testing the Segway, only one person actually got up on one. The other 3 people wouldn't go on it. Their decision to ban it cannot be taken seriously when their own testers did not test it properly.
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