The Campbell Reporter

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Segway ban makes an exception for disabled

By Koren Temple

What started as a request to operate Segway tours on the Los Gatos Creek Trail more than six months ago has turned into a debate on whether Campbell should ban all Segway use on city trails and parks for individual users.

The Campbell City Council, however, continued to voice concern that the Segway was not a safe vehicle on the already crowded Campbell Creek Trail and once again voted unanimously on Jan. 3 to ban the device. This time an exception was added for individuals with disabilities.

The issue, which bounced its way through Campbell Parks and Recreation and city council hearings at the end of 2006, found its way back on the council agenda at the start of the New Year to reintroduce the ordinance that would allow for this exception under the California Unruh Civil Rights Act.

City council members agreed this was a reasonable request, but the vote didn't come without hearing a slew of testimony from Segway supporters from around the Bay Area.

Alex Ko, a Santa Clara resident, made his plea when he told the council, "If you had a tour of 15 bicyclists, you wouldn't want them congesting all trails, but you wouldn't ban all bicycles. I'm asking you do the same thing with Segways."

He pointed out that after three years of sales, there are less than a dozen users in the area.

Avid Segway user and Segway polo player Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computers, also argued for the vehicles. He said the majority of users are older and typically polite on trails and sidewalks.

"We're not going to run people down," said Wozniak, who uses the Segway to travel from his Los Gatos home to downtown Campbell.

Wozniak told council members that every other state has approved Segway usage and that cities should be open to new technologies.

To discriminate against this new technology, he argued, is similar to the way ethnic minorities have been treated.

"It's discrimination with no reason," he said.

Jim Helberg, a co-owner of Segway San Francisco, he said, "Campbell should be promoting Segway use, not looking for ways to ban them."

Other speakers, such as Bill Sadler and Annie Norvelle, were more concerned banning Segways would jeopardize the mobility of people with injuries who find it difficult to get around on foot.

The final plea to allow Segways for individual use came from Campbell resident Meng Weng Wong, who uses the trail to travel from his home to his business partner's office in Los Gatos.

"Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. If you have to ban them, just do it on weekend mornings when it's most crowded," he said.

But city council members did not budge on the issue.

"Individual use on the trail isn't that bad, but how do we police that? It's just not practical," Campbell City Councilman Joe Hernandez said. "We don't want to ban new technology. But we do have a responsibility to the safety of the community."

Councilman Don Burr concurred with Hernandez, and added that many residents who attended previous meetings strongly opposed the usage and favored the council's previous decision, which also banned the use in parks and trails.

During those summer and fall meetings, the public said the trail was already congested from walkers, joggers, cyclists, strollers, rollerbladers and people walking their dogs.

Although Campbell parks and recreation commissioners took a more liberal approach and voted 3-2 in favor of a nine-month trial run at that time, the council overturned that recommendation. When the issue came before the Campbell City Council in October, council members did not want to jeopardize the safety of trail users. They unanimously denied South Bay Segway's request to operate Segway tours on the Campbell portion of the trail. At that time the council took it one step further, initiating an ordinance that would ban Segways on the Campbell section of the Los Gatos Creek Trail.

San Jose and Santa Clara County have approved Segway tours on their portions of the trail, but the Los Gatos Town Council followed Campbell's lead. The town overturned its parks and recreation commission's recommendation to approve Segway tours on the Los Gatos portion of the trail as of December 2006.