Just got word tonight that the Toronto Works Committee has voted unanimously to defer the issue of Segway use on city sidewalks to Toronto Legal Services. Robyn Reisler, who runs Segway of Ontario, asked the Works Committee to take this measure. "We felt this would give the legal group ample time to investigate the Segway in depth, and with all the precedents world wide we would be able to live with their recommendations," Reisler told me in an e-mail. At the very least it will stop uninformed knee-jerk reactions. I completely understand why a pedestrian committee would raise safety issues regarding Segways on sidewalks. But to immediately compared them to bicycles, which are technically illegal on sidewalks, and then to recommend they continue to be banned is a bit premature at this point. As suspected, a co-chair on the pedestrian committee confirmed that nobody on the committee has ever taken a ride on a Segway. Basing decisions on the unknown isn't the right way to go.