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Owner of Segway Firm Dies After Falling Off a River Cliff in a Segway

Ockham

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Tycoon who took over Segway firm dies in freak accident after riding one of the ...

The Mail Online said:
Tycoon who took over Segway firm dies in freak accident after riding one of the machines off a cliff and into a river

By Gavin Allen
Last updated at 2:33 PM on 27th September 2010

The multi-millionaire owner of the Segway company died in a freak accident yesterday when he rode one of the high-tech two-wheel machines off a cliff and into a river.

Former miner Jimi Heselden, 62, plunged into the River Wharfe while riding around his West Yorkshire estate in Boston Spa on a rugged country version of the Segway.

He bought the firm last December and was using one of the machines - which use gyroscopes to remain upright and are controlled by the direction in which the rider leans - to inspect the grounds of his property.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said today: 'Police were called at 11.40am yesterday to reports of a man in the River Wharfe, apparently having fallen from the cliffs above.

'A Segway-style vehicle was recovered. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

'At this time we do not believe the death to be suspicious.'


When the guy who invents it plunges to his death, such a move usually doesn't do well for marketing. It's a shame the man died and the machine itself was truly revolutionary - but odd that he plunges off a cliff.

Read more: Segway owner Jimi Heselden dies after riding one of his machines off cliff | Mail Online
 
Re: Tycoon who took over Segway firm dies in freak accident after riding one of the .

He didn't invent it, he just liked it so much, he bought the company!He was a little larger than life. He was made redundant as a coal-miner, and used his redundancy payout to reinvent the gabion (stuff a wire cage with earth, rubble and water) the "Bastion" provides modern blast walls and defences in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently he was testing the off-road version of the segway!
 
Re: Tycoon who took over Segway firm dies in freak accident after riding one of the .

I think the owner of Segway riding one of his company's own machines off a cliff to his death is what you might characterize as ironic...
 
Owner of Segway Firm Dies After Falling off River Cliff on a Segway | The Blaze

LONDON (AP) — A wealthy British businessman who owns the company that makes the two-wheeled Segway has been found dead in a river in northern England after apparently falling off a cliff on one of the vehicles, police said Monday.

The body of 62-year-old James Heselden and a Segway personal transporter were found in the River Wharfe and he was prounced dead at the scene, West Yorkshire Police said.

Police said a witness had reported seeing a man fall Sunday over a 30-foot (9-meter) drop into the river near Boston Spa, 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of London....
 
I find it somewhat humourous that he drove the damn thing off a cliff. Is it not a bad idea to go close to a cliff even while walking?
 
Re: Tycoon who took over Segway firm dies in freak accident after riding one of the .

Apparently he was testing the off-road version of the segway!

Unfortunately, he was oblivious to the subtle, yet very devastating, differences between an off-road vehicle and an off-cliff vehicle.
 
When reporting this story, what would be a good segue into another story?
 
Maybe this guy thought the thing could hover, and he was just trying it out over the cliffs.
 
Re: Tycoon who took over Segway firm dies in freak accident after riding one of the .

I think the owner of Segway riding one of his company's own machines off a cliff to his death is what you might characterize as ironic...

Ya Think? :2razz::mrgreen:;)
 
Re: Tycoon who took over Segway firm dies in freak accident after riding one of the .

Trucker killed when meat truck hits cow

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. -- Oregon State Police say a Vancouver, Wash., man died early Thursday when his tractor-trailer rig collided with a big cow on U.S. Highway 26, hit some trees and burst into flames.

Police say 54-year-old Dusty Lee Mings worked for Western Boxed Meat Distributors of Portland and was hauling meat products.

The crash took place on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation about 17 miles east of Government Camp.

A state police statement says the area is open range, where livestock can roam at large. The cow was found dead down an embankment.

The accident closed the highway for five hours.
---
 
He took the segway to heaven.
 
"I'll go segwaying along a cliff - on the dirt - high above a river . . . yeah, that sounds like a great idea"

*facepalm*
 
The problem was obviously a lack of four wheel drive.
 
Heck - people fall off of the Grand Canyon cliffs just STANDING still LOOKING down into it. . . the ice slips and *gooone*

I don't see anyone going "hey - I'll travel the Grand Canyon rim on a Segway!" :shrug:
 
I wonder what he was thinking about while he was falling. "I'm going to die on a Segway. What a stupid ass way to die."
 
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