Yesterday's NZ Herald featured an article about how staff at Auckland Real Estate business James Law Reality are using a pair of Segway Personal Transporters (PTs) to get between appointments on time. Sadly, the Herald misrepresented a number of issues regarding the safety of Segway PTs and inaccurately reported a number of facts. We take this opportunity to address each of these issues below. But first, here are some positive excerpts from the article. These demonstrate how an Auckland business is benefiting from the massive increases in staff productivity that only Segway PTs can provide. "The CBD traffic is a nightmare and finding a parking in the inner city is an even bigger nightmare," said Mr Law. Not only can agents get to clients faster, it removes their worries about parking infringements if meetings laster longer than expected. "With the Auckland Council plans of having more footpaths and making driving more difficult, it makes business sense that we find an alternative means to get around," Mr Law said. "We decided on Segways because they are environmentally friendly, and can be used on all terrains, from roads to sidewalks." The Auckland draft masterplan revealed city planners wanting to reduce the 34,385 vehicles that come into the inner city each weekday...plans to do that include malling parts of Queen St and having more walking paths and "shared spaces" similar to Elliot St.

We now address the parts of the NZ Herald article where they got it a bit wrong. In fact, certain key elements of the story were so inaccurate and/or misleading that we find it extraordinary that they ever got past fact-checking and the watching eye of a newspaper Editor such that they made it into print in New Zealand's largest daily newspaper. Here's what they got wrong, and the facts behind each bullet point in the Herald's sensational "Segway Danger" sidebar. 1. Regarding George W. Bush's "famous fall" from a Segway PT - what actually happened is that Bush tumbled over the front of a stationary, deactivated Segway PT when he stepped up onto it. The Segway PT's ability to self-balance on two wheels is something quite extraordinary to experience, but the device does need to be turned on to work its magic! It would have been easy for the Herald to check its facts before erroneously claiming Bush "...fell off a Segway at a high-powered meeting." As reported correctly by the BBC: "The machine went down when he stepped onto it at his family estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, but he managed to leap to safety, landing on his feet." An incident that didn't result in any kind of injury (except perhaps to pride) while on holiday at the family property doesn't read as quite as an exciting DANGER as "a fall while at a high powered meeting" but at least it is the truth. 2. The death of Segway company owner and philanthropist Jimi Heselden was a tragic accident, yet the Herald chose to report it sensationally as: "