We encountered this Segway at the corner of University drive and 8th Ave North in Fargo. The driver (female, I believe) was wisely equipped with a helmet. Unfortunately, I'm not skilled enough with my new cameraphone to quickly take photos. She crossed the street to avoid our dogwalking, so I was a bit to far to take a good photo.

As for the actual Segway itself, I was impressed with its uprightness. She stopped on the handicapped-accessible sidewalk incline without a problem, wobbling only slightly to remain upright and still at the same time. When she chose to change corners, she backed up and turned in around a 3-point turn, and made it into the street without problem. She did, however, have trouble getting around a truck stopped at the intersection, according to D. Still, despite trouble getting around in our foreign environment, I suspect once these invasive species have made it all the way to North Dakota, there's not much hope for the future.

As we walked home with two dogs and three bags of groceries in tow, D asked what the purpose of the Segway is; I commented that they're to take wear-and-tear off of walking people. "That's all we need," she said, "another reason to get fat by not exercising." The Segway in the wild may be more dangerous than at first glance.

Two years ago I got a chance to drive a segway. It was at a local Car Free Day event. I knew Steven Waters slightly from work on the Carrbor Transportation Advisory Board. Anyway, the segway is incrediably easy to learn how to use. I was doing figure eights in a tightly packed parking lot, after about four or five minutes of instruction and practice. For more info see Stevens website: http://www.livingstreets.com/

--busmun, 10/08/2005 4:40:20