BELLS ON CYCLES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 139, 13 June 1936, Page 26

BELLS ON CYCLES.

DANGER QUESTION. MAGISTRATE'S REMARKS. PROTECTION OF PEDESTRIANS. "What, is the Automobile Association trying to protect pedestrians from being knocked over by bicycles?" asked 111'. Wyvern Wilson, S.M.. in the Children's Court (his morning, when Senior Sergeant Flanagan, appearing for the police against a boy charged with riding a bicycle without a bell, said that the Automobile Association had frequently complained to the police that this ofl'ence was too common. "Xo, but the Automobile Association says that they are dangerous to motorists, too,'" stated Mi'. I'lanagan. "Oh, I see," was Mr. Wilson's comment. The senior sergeant said that the boy had knocked down a woman who had stepped oil' the footpath in front of Itis machine. "Til that case a bell would not have made any dill'erence," remarked Mr. Wilson. ' "The regulation requiring cyclists (o have bells on their machines dates from the time when bicvelcs were the fastest things 011 the road, and were therefore considered a menace. Nowadays they are, as contrasted with motor cars, comparatively innocuous to the pedestrian. I do not think that the pedestrian is in much danger from a bicycle. Because of the danger they run from motor cars, pedestrians are much more careful when they cross the road than they were in the days when this regulation was enacted." Having been assured by the boy that he had bought a bell' and affixed it to bis machine, the magistrate dismissed him. \