Segway coming to the sidewalks of Downtown Racine

A new vehicle is coming to Racine streets this summer.

No, check that: Not to Racine streets, but rather to Racine sidewalks.

Even callling it a vehicle is a bit of a stretch: It's got two wheels, yes, but looks more like a pogo stick than a bicycle or motorcycle.

It's a Segway, the "personal transporter" invented by Dean Kamen (who also created the first insulin pump) -- a one-person electric platform that travels about ten miles an hour. Segways never really lived up to their marketing hype to revolutionize society, but every so often you see one somewhere; I came across a group of seven in Milwaukee last summer, a pride of tourists looking like a mother duck leading her ducklings.

Yes, the Segway is the same vehicle President Bush fell off in 2003, in a fuzzy photograph seen 'round the world. It's not that the vehicle's gyroscopic balance devices failed; simply that Bush had forgotten to turn it on before boarding.

Well, now we're getting one. The Downtown Racine Corporation bought a used Segway (price: $3,500; new ones go for $5,145-$6,175 depending on model) and plans to set its Ambassadors loose on it, patrolling the sidewalks of downtown this summer looking for tourists who need assistance. We've still got a long way to go to catch up to Chicago, which bought 30 Segways in 2006 for police, fire and airport personnel.

Interestingly enough, although electric cars are not yet legal on the streets of Racine, it is legal to drive the electric-powered Segway on the sidewalks. State law permits operation of a Segway (known as an electric personal assistive mobility device, or EPAMD) on sidewalks, but authorizes a municipality to prohibit it. Racine has not enacted an ordinance prohibiting it, so it is allowed.

Although EPAMDs may operate on the sidewalks, they must yield the right of way to any pedestrian or bicyclist and are required to give an audible signal when passing a pedestrian, bicyclist or other EPAMD headed in the same direction. So I expect we'll get used to hearing the DRC Segway's distinctive "beep," or whatever it sounds like.

And before you ask: Yes, I tried to get DRC director Devin Sutherland to ride DRC's Segway for a picture (this was before the snowstorm), but he demurred. Maybe in June.