Special Bd. of Aldermen — 06-25-2019 Page 12
to impact a lot people. Years ago when the Segway’s came out there was a big deal about whether it is going
to be motor vehicle or non-motor vehicle and was specifically designed to go on sidewalks like a car goes on the
road. | have a Segway Mini which is not quite the same thing as a Segway, it’s a smaller version of it, the
wheels are maybe about that size. And the other thing is | have an E-Bike, it’s just a regular bicycle, | can ride
like a regular bicycle, | can push a button and it will assist me, give me a boost when I’m going up a hill, I’m 69
years old and | had a heart attack a few years ago, | need a bike that when | have an issue, | need a little boost,
ok? | don’t want someone saying | can’t ride my bike because it is a motor vehicle. So there are a lot of issues
and they haven't been resolved in the country as far as | know. So | really think that it would be in our best
interest, all the different kinds of things that are available, they are all over the place and they are used for
different things. And the thing is, it’s not just about VeoRide, people are going to buy them, they are starting to
buy them a lot OK? So you are going to have to discuss the issue.
The other thing | wanted to say about this particular device is it has got pretty small wheels, it'll work, like you
could take it Mine Falls Park, and fall off the sink holes (inaudible). But the main item, critical item, is at night
this thing gets thrown out into the street, I’m going to run over it. There is no way | am going to see it. So you
need to put lights or whatever on it so it’s reflecting. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you sir. Ok what | would ask is that if anybody has any questions or concerns that they please forward
them to me and Sue Lovering and we will get them to the gentleman and get all your questions addressed as
best we can, ok?
Alderman Laws
I’m sorry but they are saying that the program might launch tomorrow. Is it still going to launch tomorrow before
the concerns are addressed?
President Wilshire
I’d have to ask the Mayor that question.
Mayor Donchess
Well | think tomorrow morning Ms. Chizmas and | and the Legal Department should meet to talk about these
legal issues. But we were, as Mr. Shafer just said, | mean these things are in a category and maybe technically
they would be categorized as a motor vehicle but you know they are slower than a bicycle and not that much
faster than an electric wheelchair. We really hadn’t thought of should this be treated as a motor vehicle, | mean
we were thinking it certainly would not be. So it would be relatively unrestricted in its use like bicycles.
Technically bicycles, you can’t drive them on the sidewalk but as we were talking about that issues, when they
first brought this in, we were riding around the plaza, like 3 or 4 bicycles go by in like 4 minutes, right? So there
are all kinds of bicycles on the downtown ... at least on Main Street because of the heavy traffic volume. People
off Main Street are riding in the road but on Main Street mostly it is often people riding on the sidewalk. So |
would suggest that we meet on this tomorrow and see what we can come up with.
