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Proposed Segway ban just a ‘conversation starter,’ says Reilly Alderman responds to complaints of collisions, near misses with two-wheel transports
4-Jul-12 – Noting an increasingly crowded lakefront not made any more navigable by the two-wheeled transports, 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly has proposed banning Segways, at least along the Lakefront Trail used by many downtown residents that stretches from Hollywood Avenue south to 71st Street. In his weekly report on Monday, Reilly says his office has received “numerous complaints from constituents and business stakeholders downtown related to Segway collisions or near-misses with pedestrians, bicycles, baby strollers, and even cars.” Finding no rules governing Segways, Reilly decided to draft his own. Introduced on June 27, his ordinance would add a new section to the Municipal Code regarding “electric personal assistive devices.” It would ban use of the devices on the Lakefront Trail except by public employees. Fines would range from $25 to $200. But says his office this is just a “conversation starter” to begin a discussion with city agencies on how Segways should be categorized and regulated. The closest the city has to an ordinance regarding Segways is a section in the code called “toy vehicles,” generally meaning skateboards, scooters, and other non-motorized transportation. There are only a few companies renting Segways to the public. Each has a “limited business license” from the city, which the alderman’s report describes as “the most generic, catch-all category.” The Chicago Park District has the only rules for operating Segways – they must drive on paved paths, not go over ten miles per hour, and yield to pedestrians. The ordinance was introduced at last week’s city council meeting. Reilly says he now “looks forward to working with the Segway industry and the city departments to formulate a series of guidelines to protect those riding the Segways and those of us around them.”
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Read the proposed ordinance: 
