Dave Peterson: Get Your Motor Running, Head Out on the ... Sidewalk?

As an advocate of bicycling and walking, I am all for human-powered transportation, but not everyone may be willing or able to propel themselves. (Or so you may think. More on that at the bottom of this blog.)

First, let me assure you I am not a big fan of putting little kids in powered toy vehicles. I think they need the joy of physical activity and the immediate realization that if they want to go fast, they are going to have to work for it. Is sitting in a tiny, noisy, slow moving SUV all that much fun?

Every once in a while I do see a Power Wheels® situation that makes me laugh.  Well, at least I laugh on the outside. I may be crying on the inside, but I am laughing on the outside. Here are my top three …

• Two little girls pass slowly by the house in their Power Wheels® car on the way to the park. A few minutes later I hear one of them yelling back toward home. Two young boys trot down the block to meet the girls, then I hear an unusually high-pitched grind of the gears as the car heads back home up the block. The girls in the car are barking orders to the boys to "Push FASTER!!!".

• A young girl is spiraling backward on the driveway in her pink Barbie™ Power Wheels® car. She is paying no attention to where she is going while she talks to imaginary friends on her pink Barbie™ cell phone. It looks like about three more circles until she hits the post for the basketball backboard.

• It is a warm Sunday afternoon at the Moore Park Sprayground. Just outside of the water-play area is a young boy, not more than 4 years old, wearing a suit, tie and wrap-around sunglasses while sitting in his Power Wheels® Cadillac® Escalade™ (Approx. Retail Price $380.00).  Two younger girls in bikinis lounge on the hood. (I don't even want to contemplate what that was about.)

It turns out Power Wheels® aren't all bad. Just recently there was a news report of kids cars being used in Libya by the rebels as remotely operated machine gun platforms. As an engineer, I can really appreciate this level of creativity, in spite of the potential for destruction.

What about powered vehicles for adults? There are, of course, the powered three- and four-wheeled scooters and wheelchairs to assist people with disabilities. 

In the past few years, some very interesting new designs for general use have come along.

One that I have mixed feelings about is the Segway PT. I have a lot of respect for the inventor, Dean Kamen. He has developed some amazing technology and done wonderful work promoting science, technology and engineering through the FIRST programs.  

I attended a conference where he introduced one of the early Segway models. An absolute marvel of engineering but did it really solve any problem? He said it would revolutionize personal transportation. Why would a complex, $5,000, 75-pound vehicle that (at that time) goes 12 miles on a charge be anything that the general population would run out and buy? 

Certainly bicycles are less expensive, simpler and lighter but even they still haven't seen major acceptance as an alternative to the car in the U.S. 

Many communities see the Segway as too fast for use on the sidewalks and too slow to be allowed in the streets. Segways have found some utility in factories and with safety personnel at public events.  The novelty makes them popular for city tours, although Boston has proposed banning them on sidewalks.

An example of related technology that really did solve a problem was Kamen's iBot wheelchair that was capable of climbing stairs and curbs. It is no longer manufactured. Maybe the $26,000 price was a bit steep.

Now on to a couple of engineering marvels.

A really excellent implementation of balancing technology is Honda's U3-X electric unicycle. Lightweight, portable and fun to watch.  If you want something to impress your geeky friends, this may be the one. 

My favorite personal electric transport invention (so far) is the Yike Bike.  Sophisticated where it needs to be but simple in concept.  It is light enough and folds small enough to take on the bus or train. It is fast enough to get you through city traffic ahead of the cars. No self-balancing technology needed since it is, after all, "just" an electric bicycle.

The elegance of design and the attention to every detail are truly impressive. I expect to see a few of these around, but maybe not on the sidewalks. The entry level aluminum model costs around $2000.

Alas, with any of these marvels of electric drive technology the range is limited and they take a few hours to recharge. So is powering your own transportation all that bad?  The medical experts remind us the human body is meant to move. The "ever widening of Americans" points to the need for some lifestyle changes.

Maybe instead of buying the kids a Power Wheels car, how about a Cozy Coupe or a pedal tractor? Take the left over money and put in in their college fund or invest it some other way.

For the price of a Segway you can pick up a really nice bike and take in on an adventure vacation.

Regular unicycles are challenging to learn to ride but I know a few people who do fairly well. Add juggling and you can try out for the circus.

You can always get some decent roller skates or a skate board and carry those on the train.

Some really great solutions come from Hal Honeyman and the folks at Creative Mobility. They put together wheelchairs, hand powered bikes and adaptive trikes, bikes and tandems for people of all sorts of abilities. Project Mobility is the charitable side and they are also involved with Soldier Ride for Wounded Warriors.

Now that is the best kind of people power!