Chicago Cops Crack Heads, Ride Scooters
Chicago cops have a well-deserved reputation for being the toughest guys in a tough town. But you've got to wonder how many heads they are going to have to crack to keep that reputation up, now that more and more officers are riding around the Windy City on Segway scooters.
The CPD is spending about a half-million dollars to buy up 100 scooters and parts. That's on top of the 50 Segways already in use at O'Hare and Midway airports, and around the lakefront.
Cops have become a key market for the scooter-maker, after the machines failed to catch on with the general public. Around the country, 125 law enforcement agencies now use Segways, the company claims.
In Los Angeles County... officers prize it because it allows them to stand a head taller than they would on foot, so they can see over crowds and cars and project a more prominent presence at events like the Rose Bowl parade.
The scooters, which travel as fast as 12.5 mph, also allow an officer on patrol to cover a much greater distance than on foot, and go indoors, onto elevators and other places bigger vehicles can't. Blair said the added efficiency allows a force to cut down on the number of patrol officers on each shift and recoup the Segway's cost in as quickly as a month.
Several bomb squads such as those in Ventura County, Calif., and Little Rock, Ark., use Segways to transport officers in bulky bombproof and hazardous-material suits that can weigh as much as 100 pounds. The Segway allows them to scoot in and out of a scene quickly, without having to waddle in on foot.
Last year, Segway came out with its i80 police model, which features a longer battery life, giving the scooter the an energy efficiency equivalent of 450 miles per hour gallon -- with no emissions. The machine also boasts "Reflective Trim [that] helps establish your presence and enhance officer visibility" and a "Comfort Mat [that] alleviates fatigue that can occur when standing for long periods." Not that Chicago cops get tired. Ever.
(Big ups: Gizmag)
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Segway’s are not safe for the healthy nor was it designed as a mobility device for the disabled. Since its introduction two Segway riders have been killed, one known serious head injury and just for kicks quadriplegic injuries for another. This does not include the numerous lawsuits for face plants and other forms of bodily harm. Consumers have been and will continue to be seriously injured when the Segway malfunctions and suddenly stops without warning or when the tires lose traction due to a twig, a flaw in the road, etc.
Over the past few years I have only found three or four articles that discuss the injuries and question the safety of Segway’s design in the main stream press. As a consumer, and the wife of the gentlemen who suffered the quadriplegic injuries it is difficult to read about the various groups, especially the disabled that have embarrassed the Segway without questioning the design and stability of an inverted pendulum and the potential for serious injury when thrown over the shaft on a hard surface or falling backwards.
Representatives from Segway have been asked about the disabled using the Segway as a mobility device and their response is always the same. They do not want the liability and the machine is not FDA approved. They do not market to the disabled nor do they want to keep that market.
Segway has a responsibility to discourage the disabled community from using the device and start educating the public on the difficulties and dangers of dismounting the Segway when the machine fails and does not go into a safety shut down.
As the daughter of career military I am proud of our troops and feel deeply for those that have been injured. As a wife and now caregiver for my husband who is confined to a wheelchair I understand the desire to stand and the need for quality of life. I have seen what a Segway malfunction can do and it is not worth it. And I do not support Drafts’ Segs4Vets.
Please do not blindly accept this technology and design without examining the real dangers of falling from an upright position with only two ways off. Falling or thrown forward onto the shaft and concrete or off the back of the machine. Helmets will not protect you from a neck injury causing a spinal cord injury, paralysis if not death.
Posted by: ML at May 18, 2009 11:02 PM