Social Interaction on the Road

It’s obvious that there is a social aspect to driving: people communicate through gestures, lights and honks of the horn. Peoples’ characters are also illuminated on the road: drivers can be aggressive or cautious. There is of course a limit to the amount of interaction and expression.

However, no where is social interaction on the road more obvious than in Egypt. On a recent trip to Cairo I noticed that the Egyptians have a habit of honking their horn every thirty seconds. It seemed pointless and unnecessary as a pedestrian but when in a vehicle my perceptions changed.

Egyptian roads are not great and there are few marked lanes. Those that have lanes are somewhat pointless as drivers tend to ignore them anyway. There are few traffic junctions with lights, few crossing points and pedestrians are forced to run in front of speeding cars; traffic police are required at any major junction. The infrastructure is pretty poor.

This is where the social interaction starts to play an important role. On my second journey in an Egyptian taxi, I realised that the constant honking had a purpose. Drivers use it to keep track of other vehicles. With the constant noise they are aware of those vehicles to their sides and those behind them. This gives them the ability (not necessarily a very positive one) to drive without using their side mirrors, to the extent where I spotted a couple of cars which lack them.

An Egyptian Road

The idea is, to a certain extent, like the parking assist feature which comes in a lot of new cars these days: the system beeps faster as the car reversing gets closer to the one behind. This is similar to what is occurring on the Cairo roads: sound is being harnessed as a road-awareness tool.

When one car is about to pass another it will generally beep to warn them. However, the idea also benefits pedestrians. Due to the lack of pavement in the city (and with a population of 18 million in Cairo, most pavement is packed anyway) a lot of pedestrians are forced to walk on the road. Vehicles therefore use their horns as a way to warn pedestrians.

This idea reminded me of a news article I read a few years ago referring to Exhibition Road in London (the one with all the museums). According to The Times if plans went ahead “All traditional signals and barriers used to separate the carriageway and pavement will be removed and the question of who has priority will deliberately be left open.” The plans would encourage eye contact between drivers and pedestrians, slightly different from the Egyptian method which is based on sound, but still to a certain extent, the same. The environment creates a sense of awareness.

© The Times

The concept was based on research that arose out of the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, concluding that a driver simply looks at the colour of a traffic light rather than the people who want to cross. The thinking behind the idea is somewhat like the argument made against seat belts. When seat belts were introduced they were considered a safety feature; however, some people argue they have merely allowed drivers to increase their speed and drive more recklessly as their relative risk is the same as before. In this case, the plans would remove a safety feature, increasing drivers’ risks and therefore encouraging them to pay more attention.

So while we rarely think about it, the social interaction between people on the road is clearly more important than one would think and obviously plays a larger role in some places that others. What will the future hold for communication and expression on the road?

London: Snow Day

By about 7:15 am someone on Facebook had confirmed it was a snow day and that school had been cancelled. This, for London, is extremely rare – in fact, I can’t remember it ever happening before.

Everyone in the capital woke up to around 6 inches of snow and reports that Transport for London had stopped their bus service half way through the night. On top of that, all lines on the underground were partly suspended bar one. For those of you who live in England, you’ll know: we just cannot cope with snow.

Snow Outside

Facebook was being used by students to confirm that school was out – someone managed to put a call through to school while others harassed the sons of teachers. All in all it only took a few minutes to confirm that there would be no school and social networking tools allowed this news to spread quickly and efficiently. Judging by the number of people online on Facebook, it would seem that for many it was their first port of call this morning.

Now, where’s the nearest snow ball fight?

Segway

Experience

On a recent trip to visit family in Naples, Florida, we had the opportunity to take a Segway tour. I jumped at the chance having never tried one before.

The Segway, or Segway PT (personal transporter) to use their official title, was invented by Dean Kamen. It is a two-wheeled vehicle that balances itself to stay upright using a hi-tech system including dual computers, five gyroscopes and two tilt sensors located under the user’s feet which detect whether the rider is leaning forward or back, resulting in acceleration or breaking respectively. Motors power the wheels and the Segway can turn 360 degrees on the spot as one motor can drive a wheel in one direction while the other does the opposite.

The unconventional handlebar steers the Segway when a user leans it to one side. This caused some initial difficulty among some of my family members. The idea of leaning a bar to the side, rather than turning it, seemed unnatural and was difficult to become accustomed to.

Me on a Segway PT in Naples, Florida

However, the overall simplicity of the machine makes it a joy to ride. The only draw back I found was that your feet feel slightly odd when you step off.

We rode the simplest version of the Segway, but there are in fact other models including an off-roader and one to use on the golf course. Whether they would be allowed on a golf course is another question.

Economics

Segways are slowly becoming more popular but they are certainly not taking off that fast. Between 2001 and 2007 they only sold 30,000 units and their original annual sales goal was 40,000 units! I expect the lack of enthusiasm from the general public is mainly due their cost. The model we rode (see above photo) is sold for $5300 – certainly not a cheap toy.

I spoke to the woman who ran our tour who said they had sold 5 Segways to the local sheriff’s department (in fact this is used as an example in a PDF available from the Segway website), and I have seen police use the transporters elsewhere, for example in airports. The woman said the sheriffs department found them ideal for rounding up the homeless because they are almost silent. The added bonus of course is that they do not pollute. According to the Segway online PR section, more than 400 police and security agencies use Segways around the USA, so it would seem they have found a good market there.

Another suggestion I’ve heard is that Segway’s are somewhat geeky. I can see the reasoning behind this: they are highly dependant on technology and some “geeky” firms have adopted them on their campuses such as Google (though I hate to label Googlers as geeks). Segways don’t exactly look cool: they may be fun to ride, but their chunky design is not particularly appealing.

In the UK, the use of Segways is also restricted as they are classified as powered vehicles and subject to Road Traffic Law. This means they cannot be used on private property though the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are in favour of allowing Segways in cycle lanes. This restriction certainly hinders growth in the UK market. There are however few restrictions in the USA.

Conclusion

While the Segway is extremely fun to ride it is probably not the most practical mode of transport. It may part crowds, but it would not be easy to navigate through large numbers of people. Certainly having one around would be fun if you can afford it, otherwise I’m not sure there’s much point. Are you ever really going to use it to get somewhere? What will you do with it when you get there? Perhaps in more rural areas the Segway makes a nice green solution for getting around, but in the city I would think otherwise.

From a business perspective it seems unlikely the Segway will ever become a huge success. The main hindrance is cost: $5300 is the same price as a cheap car and this limits the market for the Segway. This time of economic crises certainly can’t help things either. My prediction is we’ll see the Segway remain in some specialised areas: police forces and security, perhaps in warehouses as well. Apart from that it is unlikely to ever become a household item.