Anyone who rides the hi-tech celebrity scooter Segway on Hong Kong pavements, parks or roads risks being fined up to HK$8,000 and being banned from driving for 12 months.
The effective ban on the device was revealed to Technology Post in an e-mail response from a Transport Department spokesman.
The scooters, controlled by body movements with the help of tiny computers and balance-controlling gyroscopes, were put on sale to the public at Amazon.com in September for US$4,950 each, and will begin shipping in March.
The Transport Department spokesman referred to a court case in March 2001 in which a man was charged for the illegal use of an electric scooter in Cheung Chau.
The man was found guilty on five charges: driving without a motorcycle licence, driving an unregistered vehicle, using a vehicle that had no third-party risks insurance, driving without a safety helmet and driving without a closed road permit in Cheung Chau.
Although the Segway, billed as an anti-pollution solution in cities, was designed by inventor Dean Kamen to be used on pavements and not roads, the Transport Department has classified the Segway as a motorcycle.