There could be a new way of tooling around Bermuda if two entrepreneurial businessmen convince Government that an innovative two-wheel electric powered vehicle should be allowed on the Island's roads.

Business partners Robert Territo and Gerald Smith - through a company they are incorporating together called Elite Adventures Ltd. - hope to be given the green light to bring in and distribute the u?ber-cool stand-up-and-ride two-wheeler called the Segway Human Transporter (HT), a vehicle that has already taken the US by storm since they were introduced more than a year ago.

Although the Segway HT has until recently seen the most widespread use in the US, where it was developed by millionaire inventor Dean Kamen, the Segway company is now breaking into consumer markets elsewhere with the opening of retail outlets in France and Italy this year, and plans to expand to other parts of the globe. That could include Bermuda if the vehicles are approved for use locally, but Mr. Territo told their business plan was to work first with Government including use of the Segway HT's by ‘on the beat' police in Hamilton.

The second phase would be to sell the vehicles to businesses, with interest already expressed by some for use by employees including local courier company IBC.

Thirdly, it would be sold on the retail market as well as there being plans to rent the vehicles out to tourists, perhaps on an organised tour basis or for use on the golf course.

Mr. Territo - who is the public face of the new company working to bring in the Segway HT vehicles while Bermudian partner Mr. Smith works on other projects that Mr. Territo could not reveal details of until plans are further along - said he grew up in Bermuda but has been living and working in New York in recent years, where the Segway vehicles are a popular way of getting around the city.

Mr. Territo said he had worked as a photographer for Ralph Lauren and had more recently operated a bar and restaurant in lower Manhattan.

Now his passion for the Segway vehicles has spurned him into trying to bring them into his childhood home.

Dr. Joseph Froncioni, who is chairman of the Bermuda Road Safety Council (BRSC), also spoke with after testing out the Segway HT for a time on Bermuda roads after Mr. Territo gave the BRSC and Transport Control Department (TCD) a loaner Segway vehicle to test on local roads.

“We are using it to make recommendations,” he said, adding that the report from the Road Safety Council would then have to be considered by TCD and Transport Ministry officials.

“We don't want to reinvent the wheel,” he adding, saying that there was already a lot of information available on the use of Segways which were said to be in use in a large number of other jurisdictions.

When asked if the vehicle would get his endorsement, Dr. Froncioni said he personally had long been a fan of the Segway vehicles, including having followed its development when it was still a mystery invention with only the code name of ‘Ginger'.

“From a personal perspective, I think it lives up to the hype,” he said, with it being acclaimed as a self-balancing, electric-powered people mover referred to by its inventor as “magic sneakers”.

But Dr. Froncioni, who is also a surgeon and sees first hand the end result of traffic accidents on Bermuda's roads, cautioned that care must be taken when using the Segway, just as you would when riding a bicycle or even as a walker or jogger.

“It is not fail safe,” he said, adding that using the vehicles even at the moderate speeds the Segway operates at could get injured if they do not use common sense.

Dr. Froncioni, who has also ridden a Segway in Canada, said users of the transporter would be bound by the same rules of the road as any other user, including it being an offence to use the vehicles when under the influence of alcohol. Dr. Froncioni said that the Road Safety Council works closely with TCD, including director Kevin Monkman sitting in on Council meetings.

However, on a global scale, not all are sold on the vehicle though with some critics claiming use of the Segway HT, which are often ridden on sidewalks elsewhere, can congest walkways intended for pedestrians.

Meanwhile, Mr. Territo said he could not put a timeline on when the vehicles could be available in Bermuda, as it was dependent on how long Government took to make a decision.

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