> Segway law means Taupo police back to plodding the beat
>
> http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=3D10700925

That is utter garbage.
Somebody "official" may have said it, & the NZ Police may believe
their own hype, but it's not true.
Nothing in the rules say that powered  "scooters", "minibikes" and
'agents of mess distruction" have to have their wheels line ahead
(AFAIK). And if they do, even NZ law is flexible enough to overcome
that with suitable interpretation unless, apparently, you are a Taupo
policeman.

Current NZ law allows them to be ridden on footpaths along with many
other dangerous powered vehicles that are even more dubiously sensible
in that category. And they can probably be legally ridden on roads as
well.

The major factor that would cause problems is power level. As long as
they are powered to below a certain level they become legislatively &
legally invisible, along with all the other junk that is nowadays
allowed to whizz, crawl, whine, smoke and speed around the place.

If you can manage to obtain one that is "purpose built" as a mobility
aid (not modified to be one) then you could use one even more freely
again. (If 'more freely) than "legally invisible" is achievable).

A Segway's peak power may NEED to exceed an allowable power level to
maintain stability. If so a little tailoring so that demonstrated mean
power input over say 1 second plus was below the limit should be able
to be made to satisy PC plod.Even if not PC_Segway-Taupo-no-longer.


 Russell
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