Guns on Segways
Anti-terrorist demonstration in Jinan, China. (BigPicture)
When the lovable Segway was unveiled, who would have guessed that its chief street use would be a platform for cops and soldiers. Here's Paul Saffo on the phenomenon:
It is always fascinating to see once-cuddly technologies turn dark. Consider the Segway, that sweetly geeky gizmo that was supposed to drive autos out of our cities and save the planet. Well, Segways have arrived, but instead of transporting happy auto-eschewing citizens on their daily errands, the Segway has become the personal chariot of cops adopting the gyro-stabilized two-wheeler for patrol and crowd control work. Seqway-riding security dudes are turning up at airports and convention centers, and now are finding their way into the security mix at lock-down events like the G8 Summit and the upcoming Beijing Olympics. No cuddly here, just pure menace, like the rent-a-samurai in full battle rattle riding a nobby-tired industrial Segway at the this month's G8 summit (pic below). Watching the transformation is like discovering that one's favorite teddy bear has fangs and a taste for human flesh. Before long, I'll bet we'll see squads of Segway cops in full riot gear running down fleeing demonstrators at some future anti-globalization demonstration.
Some of the pics Saffo has collected and captioned:
The G8's rent-a-samurai and his timid sidekick.
I wonder how the Segway handles recoil? (Flickr)
The Ventura county sheriff's gyro-bomb squad. (Segway)
A Segway with training wheels for the vertically challenged.
Last one to the Dunkin' Donuts is a rotten egg!
And a few others:
In Mexico City (Jason)
You need a good belt. (Wilisms)
Nice off-road tires at Yale University (Yale)
re "A Segway with training wheels for the vertically challenged."
That is actually a http://www.t3motion.com/ vehicle.
Posted by Stephen on May 27, 2009 at 12:36 PMThanks for sharing these photos. As someone ppointed out, one of those isn't a Segway. You're one of the few who seem not to really favor Segway, but this article is not packed with ignorance, just an opinion. Thanks again for sharing.
Posted by SegGlider on June 2, 2009 at 3:03 AM
The GM PUMA is already drawing fire as GM's feeble attempt at a green vehicle but I don't think it's going to catch on. The GM PUMA is a two wheeled seated electric scooter, co-designed by some of the team that designed the Segway scooter. It's likely going to cost a payday loan or two to get, at least, as it is designed to be a full service city vehicle. Interest isn't taking off yet – but it’s still in the development phase. If it does take off, perhaps the taxpayers won't have to give GM another payday loan because of the success of the GM PUMA.
Posted by Steve L. on April 16, 2009 at 9:33 PM