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Segway boss Jimi Heselden dies in scooter cliff fall

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Segway boss Jimi Heselden dies in scooter cliff fall

#11

Post by siruva07 »

unwind wrote: post #3

It might be worth pointing out that the person who died is not the inventor of the Segway, that would be Dean Kamen. I'm not saying that anyone claimed it was, but just pointing it out to avoid confusion.

thanks for that clarification. i was ironically reminded of other inventors killed by their inventions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventors_killed_by_the...). still so very tragic.

Re: Segway boss Jimi Heselden dies in scooter cliff fall

#13

Post by glhaynes »

cookiecaper wrote: post #8
darklajid wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We cannot know for sure. One commenter over on the article site brings up the point of a heart attack while driving. Would (just like in any other vehicle, granted) cause a loss of control and might explain a great deal. But again - we cannot know and shouldn't judge without more details, imo.

You're right of course, that's a possibility. I don't mean to be passing absolute judgment on the matter. Just saying there's got to be something more than "I accidentally drove off a cliff, sry", as the article seems to imply. I don't really understand why I'm losing karma at such a clip for it. :(

I don't see why there does have to be more to it. People make mistakes while driving vehicles all the time. How many of the recent Toyota crashes were caused by people stepping on the gas when they meant to step on the brake?

Re: Segway boss Jimi Heselden dies in scooter cliff fall

#14

Post by antidaily »

I took a Segway tour in Chicago this summer. Part of the tour takes you by the water. I asked out guide if a segwayer had ever fallen in - the answer was yes, sort of. They did lose a Segway in the lake, but the user jumped off before going in herself. The worse accident they had ever had was when a guy went over the front, smashing his face, after using it incorrectly and accidentally enabled an auto-stop mechanism, where the Segway basically shuts off.

You have to lean forward to move forward, which makes me think this guy either passed out or hit some rough terrain and the machine just slid off the cliff.

Re: Segway boss Jimi Heselden dies in scooter cliff fall

#16

Post by tomjen3 »

[deleted] wrote: post #10
cookiecaper wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right of course, that's a possibility. I don't mean to be passing absolute judgment on the matter. Just saying there's got to be something more than "I accidentally drove off a cliff, sry", as the article seems to imply. I don't really understand why I'm losing karma at such a clip for it. :(

[deleted]

I realize that showing respect for the death is usually a custom, but wouldn't it be better to show respect for the living?

Re: Segway boss Jimi Heselden dies in scooter cliff fall

#17

Post by dandrews »

cookiecaper wrote: post #4

Sounds intentional to me. If you were on a runaway scooter about to go off the cliff, you could just jump off the scooter back onto the ground. Sure, you'd eat some dust, but you wouldn't die in a river. It seems like it'd be pretty hard _not_ to do this even if you were trying not to do it. Something is definitely fishy here.

You can't infer anything "intentional" here. I imagine he was close to the edge and he let it get away from him for whatever reason. Maybe he slipped in some loose gravel or mud, or his dog blocked one of the wheels, or he simply wasn't paying attention. Those machines are deceptively easy to operate, but they are still machines and you pay dearly for your complacency. I have 5000+ miles experience on mine, and I still planted a facer last month (my own fault, not the seg's). All I can say is that it's a good damn thing I don't live on a cliff.
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