Is Segwaying While Intoxicated a Crime?

On Behalf of | Feb 26, 2013 | DWI, Minnesota News |

So if you drove your Segway to a bar, got drunk, and then decided to jump on your Segway and drive it home, is it a crime? Driving a boat or an ATV while drunk is a crime, so where does a Segway fall?

In January, the Minnesota Court of Appeals determined that driving a Segway while intoxicated is not considered a DWI.

A man by the name of Mark Greenman was charged with DWI when he had left a pool tournament in February 2012 and was pulled over by police a short time after. When he was given a breath test, he blew .19 percent, which is more than twice Minnesota’s legal limit of .08 percent when driving a motor vehicle.

It turns out this is not the first time that Greenman was charged with DWI while on his scooter. In fact, he had beaten a charge two years prior. This time, the issue was taken a step further.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals would rule that Greenman’s DWI charge could not and would not stand. The reason is because Segways are not considered motor vehicles under the state’s drunk driving laws. This ruling comes a little too late for those individuals who have been arrested for Segway DWI in the past and pleaded guilty to the charges. People have been arrested for driving motorized wheelchairs while drunk. There have even been riding lawnmower arrests and one person arrested for driving a Zamboni while intoxicated. If they pleaded guilty, the convictions remain on their criminal records.

As for how this ruling will affect the number of individuals driving Segways while drunk, it is not believed that there will be an increase in drunken Segway drivers because they are not very easy to drive sober, let alone when drunk.

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