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Segway boss Jimi Heselden dies in scooter cliff fall

130 points| jefffoster | 15 years ago |bbc.co.uk | reply

46 comments

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[+] unwind|15 years ago|reply
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.

[+] idoh|15 years ago|reply
For what it's worth, he did invent (or entrepreneured, it isn't clear) the hesco bastion, which according to the former marine sitting next to me was something the troops really liked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesco_bastion

[+] kschua|15 years ago|reply
Agreed. When I first saw the headline, I thought it was Dean.
[+] VMG|15 years ago|reply
Impressive bio:

Mr Heselden grew up in the Halton Moor area of Leeds, leaving school at 15 and working down local pits.

He worked as a miner before losing his job in a wave of redundancies in the 1980s.

His engineering business went from strength-to-strength and he had a fortune reported to be £166m, making him one of the top 400 richest people on the UK.

[+] thehodge|15 years ago|reply
Wow, that really brings it home to me, as I live just a few streets away from Halton Moor...
[+] antidaily|15 years ago|reply
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.

[+] onwardly|15 years ago|reply
In 2008 I had just founded a textbook-selling website, and one of the first schools we went to was University of Illinois- Urbana/Champaigne. We had a genius marketing idea: rent a Segway and ride it around campus handing out fake dollar bills that had our information on it You can see the example here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4971801/Illinois%20Heads1.jpg ). Not only could we move around campus faster, but we would stand out!

After arriving in Chicago, I went to the Segway store you mentioned. They didn't rent Segways out. Two hours later, I emerged with a $500 bill and a Segway for 7 days.

I went to Kinkos and printed out a thick cardboard front with "BrunoBooks.com" on it and taped it to the front of the Segway. I gotta say, riding those things is a LOT of fun.

Unfortunately, I underestimated how bleeping cold it is in Illinois in early January, and therefore failed to realize the implications of what I'd done. For the next week, I rode around in sub-zero temperatures handing out fliers. I'd had the choice between University of Texas and Illinois, and I'd made an unforgettable mistake.

Follow-ups to this story:

1) It didn't really work. Of 40k students, ~500 visited our site. After conversions, this was terrible for business.

2) Everything is negotiable. For the right price, you can rent anything. In a larger sense, don't take no for an answer.

3) Don't be an asshole to people handing out fliers. Usually they're just doing their job, but even if it was their idea there's no need to be a dick about it.

4) Don't ride a Segway around U of I in January.

[+] aberkowitz|15 years ago|reply
I don't want to overshadow the fact that somebody died, but I wonder how / if this will negatively affect Segway's PR.
[+] ck2|15 years ago|reply
Very sad to read, especially with those huge donations to charity he gave.
[+] mjijackson|15 years ago|reply
So awesome that his contributions to charity play such a prominent part in the article announcing his death. A life well spent.
[+] ihumanable|15 years ago|reply
Reading this reminded me of "I, Robot", although as unwind correctly noted, Mr. Heselden did not invent the Segway.

Terrible thing to happen, rest in peace.

[+] ww520|15 years ago|reply
Can a Segway be remotely controled? Could there be foul play in this case?
[+] redstripe|15 years ago|reply
I think one of the Roger Moore Bond movies starts with the villian trying to kill him in remote controlled helicopter so there is definitely a precedent.
[+] henning|15 years ago|reply
Would he have any enemies?
[+] kasharoo|15 years ago|reply
It's what I've always said--cliffs don't kill people, people driving Segways off cliffs kill people.
[+] zacharycohn|15 years ago|reply
At least it probably landed right side up....

:(

[+] speby|15 years ago|reply
Interesting article. I wonder if the guy who invented the bicycle ever had an accident. Was it newsworthy?
[+] cookiecaper|15 years ago|reply
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.

[+] dandrews|15 years ago|reply
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.
[+] darklajid|15 years ago|reply
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.