# Segway company owner dies after driving Segway off of cliff **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 27, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215 "2010-09-27T14:26:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215/41 "2010-09-29T01:43:36Z")
Am I the only one who thinks those things look stupid as hell? Maybe it’s because the rent-a-cops over at the local mall use them. ---
**Author:** ![Bayesian\_Empirimancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Bayesian\_Empirimancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayesian_Empirimancer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215/42 "2010-09-29T01:47:16Z")
Here’s what I really want to know: when they found him, was the Segway still there, standing up? ---
**Author:** ![Peeta\_Mellark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215/43 "2010-09-29T01:58:45Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Sure, but shouldn’t his death be as good a time as any to point these things out to those who have never heard of it? He has actually made some very amazing contributions to society, and that isn’t even talking about all his philanthropy and charity work. He was actually a decent human being. [http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Jimi-Heselden-The-tycoon-who.6553568.jp](http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Jimi-Heselden-The-tycoon-who.6553568.jp) > > His HESCOs were used in the US as recently as the Gulf Oil Spill, protecting sensitive shorelines. [http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/gulf\_oil\_spill/hesco-barriers-set-up-along-shoreline](http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/gulf_oil_spill/hesco-barriers-set-up-along-shoreline). They were used in Katrina to replace damaged dykes. > > His HESCOs in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to protect NATO forces. As one person put it recently, “More soldiers have gone untouched by heat, blast and fragmentation because of this guy than probably anybody that can be named in history.” > > This man invented these things and started this company from scratch like 20 something years ago. > > Contrast this with Segway, a company he only purchased a year ago. Yeah, my sister and I were discussing this earlier today so it’s been on my mind, though I hadn’t seen this thread until just now. The people who’ve been making jokes (not just here) about the tragic death of a man who is single-handedly responsible for protecting so many people through his invention has really bothered me. Falling to one’s death is horrifying, not funny. Everything I’ve heard about him indicates he was a genuinely good human being, one who accomplished more in his unfairly shortened life than the majority of us ever will. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215/44 "2010-09-30T02:02:38Z")
I enjoyed [this particular article](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315518/Segway-tycoon-Jimi-Heselden-dies-cliff-plunge-scooters.html). They’ve got photos with arrows and everything. I almost expected to see a mannequin on the ground showing where the body was found. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215/45 "2010-09-30T07:29:47Z")
I can’t help but laugh when I think of the gravity of the tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215/46 "2010-09-30T10:43:11Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I hace an image of him driving into airspace, smiling, then looking down and then falling. Well, I don’t think he studied law. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@Captain\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215/47 "2010-09-30T10:46:19Z")
Those things don’t look that safe. I also have heard that most of the people riding them are jerks. GOB from Arrested development variety. Several years ago, the President of McDonalds died of a heart attack. That’s irony. Probably never ate that shitty food in his life, but there it is. Maybe if he did instead of filet mingon, he might be kicking today. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215/48 "2010-09-30T10:48:48Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > oh, but let’s just talk about the Segway :rolleyes: “Oh, but you shag _one_ sheep…” ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215/49 "2010-09-30T11:20:41Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Nobody but you, apparently, has ever heard of the HESCO system, even though it may save us from certain disaster every single day. > > Ok, well, **I** haven’t ever heard of it. And it doesn’t sound very sexy, or active. > > Barriers!!?? I’m all about taking down barriers man, not putting them up!! HESCO barriers and SLAPI plates are God’s gifts to soldiers. (Oddly we have whole compounds here surrounded by these things, at least stacked two high.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215/50 "2010-09-30T16:15:15Z")
> [@Cell\_Guy](#): > > …Sorry, I couldn’t help it… > > [http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd508/Cell\_Guy/Segway.jpg](http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd508/Cell_Guy/Segway.jpg) You’ll like this: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glvGfQnx3DI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glvGfQnx3DI) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/segway-company-owner-dies-after-driving-segway-off-of-cliff/555215.md?page=2)