It is one of those stories that sounds like an urban legend. You’ve probably heard it in a bar or seen it in a "ironic deaths" listicle. The guy who owned the Segway company died by driving a Segway off a cliff.
It sounds fake. It sounds like a dark joke about technology biting back. But it actually happened.
The man wasn't Dean Kamen, the eccentric inventor who everyone thinks of when they see those two-wheeled machines. It was Jimi Heselden. He was a British multi-millionaire who had bought the company just ten months before his death. On a quiet Sunday morning in September 2010, the "green revolution" of transport met a tragic, rocky end in West Yorkshire.
The Freak Accident at Jackdaw Crag
Jimi Heselden wasn't just some suit. He was a 62-year-old former coal miner who made his fortune (nearly $200 million) by inventing Hesco bastions—those giant wire cages filled with earth that protect soldiers in war zones. He was a tough, self-made guy.
On September 26, 2010, Heselden was out on his estate near Boston Spa. He was riding a "rugged" off-road version of the Segway, the x2 model. This thing has fat, knobby tires. It’s built for trails.
He was navigating a narrow footpath high above the River Wharfe. At a spot known as Jackdaw Crag, the drop is about 30 to 42 feet. It's a sheer limestone plunge.
A witness later testified at the inquest about what happened. Heselden wasn't speeding or being reckless. He actually encountered a fellow dog walker on the narrow path. To be polite, Heselden tried to reverse his Segway to give the other person more room.
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He wobbled. He lost his balance. The machine went backward, and he plummeted over the edge into the river below.
The police found his body in the water. The Segway was right there with him. There was no mechanical failure. The machine worked exactly how it was supposed to. It was just a split-second mistake of physics and courtesy.
Why Everyone Thinks the Inventor Died
There is a huge misconception that persists even today: that Dean Kamen, the man who invented the Segway, was the one who went over the cliff.
He didn't.
Kamen is very much alive. He’s spent the years since then working on high-end medical tech, like the "Luke" prosthetic arm and water purification systems for developing nations.
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But because the Segway was so tied to Kamen’s face and his bold (and ultimately wrong) prediction that it would "be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy," people linked the tragedy to him. Honestly, the irony was just too "perfect" for the internet to ignore.
Heselden had only owned the company for less than a year. He bought it in December 2009, hoping to breathe new life into a brand that was already starting to be seen as a bit of a punchline. He saw the potential for the tech in security and industrial sectors. He wasn't a tech visionary in the Silicon Valley sense; he was a manufacturer who liked things that worked.
The Real Legacy of Jimi Heselden
If you only know him as the "Segway guy who died," you're missing the most important part of his life. Heselden was one of the most generous philanthropists in the UK.
- He donated over £23 million to charity during his life.
- Just a week before he died, he gave £10 million to the Leeds Community Foundation.
- He grew up in a "tough" area called Halton Moor and never forgot it.
- He used his "redundancy money" from the coal mines to start his first business.
He was the kind of guy who flew 21 of his staff to Benidorm for a holiday because they hit a deadline. He was a local hero in Leeds. The Segway accident was a freak occurrence that overshadowed a lifetime of genuine altruism.
Was the Segway Actually Dangerous?
The death of the owner naturally sparked a massive safety debate. If the guy who owns the company can’t stay on the thing, what hope do we have?
Actually, the Segway is remarkably stable—until it isn't. It uses five solid-state gyroscopes and two tilt sensors to stay upright. It checks your balance 100 times per second.
But it has a weakness: the "push-back" or "speed limiter." When you go too fast or the battery is low, the handlebars tilt back to force you to slow down. If you fight that tilt, the motors can’t keep up, and you’ll tip forward.
In Heselden's case, the issue was reversing on a narrow, uneven path. On a Segway, reversing is tricky because you can't see behind you easily, and the center of gravity shifts in a way that’s less intuitive than moving forward.
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The Aftermath of the Tragedy
The Segway company didn't die with Heselden, but it never really recovered its "cool" factor. In 2013, the company was sold again to Summit Strategic Investments. By 2015, it was acquired by Ninebot, a Chinese rival.
Eventually, in June 2020, Ninebot stopped production of the original Segway PT entirely. The "revolution" ended up being a niche tool for mall security, tour groups, and warehouses.
Today, we see the descendant of the Segway in every electric scooter and hoverboard on the street. The tech lived on, but the dream of everyone standing upright on two wheels died alongside the man who tried to save the brand.
Safety Lessons for Micro-mobility
If you're riding an e-scooter or any self-balancing device, there are practical takeaways from the Heselden tragedy that still apply:
- Respect the Terrain: Off-road models are capable, but uneven ground (like tree roots) can cause the gyroscopes to over-correct.
- Avoid Reversing Near Edges: It is much harder to maintain balance while moving backward on a gyroscopic device. If you need to turn around on a narrow ledge, get off and move the device manually.
- The "Act of Courtesy" Trap: Heselden died because he was being a nice guy. If you are on a motorized vehicle and meet a pedestrian on a narrow path, stop completely. Don't try to "scoot" past or dance around them while powered up.
- Helmets Aren't Enough for 40-Foot Drops: While a helmet is crucial for 99% of accidents, the blunt force trauma of a cliff fall is a different beast. Elevation is the ultimate hazard.
Jimi Heselden’s death remains one of the most tragic and misunderstood footnotes in tech history. He wasn't a victim of his own invention—he didn't invent the Segway. He was a philanthropist who suffered a catastrophic bit of bad luck while trying to be a polite neighbor.
To truly understand the risks of modern personal transport, you should look into the specific mechanics of gyroscopic "push-back" and how modern e-scooters handle speed limiting compared to the original Segway models. Understanding these limits is the best way to ensure you don't become another headline.