CYCLISTS AND FOOTPATHS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11010, 6 July 1901, Page 5

CYCLISTS AND FOOTPATHS.

TO THK KDITOR O» TOB FRJSSS. Sir, —The question your reporter say& "was left unanswered lor some reason or other"—namely, the "question I asked the Magistrates as to the legality of wheeling on the side-path—is owe that Thave not yet been able to get a reply to. If it is legal to wheel the cycle on the footpath, of course it makes the matter an easier one, and my industrious wading through the mud a work without cause; as also was the incident I described to the Magistrate which, though not reported, was, 1 think, interesting. I saw two <youßg ladies wheeling towards mc in the distance, and presently one slipped and fell into the mud. The other jumped off her cycle, and they stopped for some time consulting. Probably they were going to make an afternoon call, for it was evidently decided that her appearance was too lamentable to be seen'by strangers, so they simply turned, and made their way back, followed by your tumble servant, all three of us wading our way in the mud, and wheeling our cycles.. Sir, could! a more ridiculous eight .have been seen "under the canopy." Ttoee apparently sane individuals making their way on'the muddy road with a most enticing footpath by the side of them. On the footpath there was not a person in sight, and the cracked state of the asphalt looked beseechingly towards oar wheels, as though demanding that they should be rolled. For ifc must be admitted by everyone that, whether on the footpath or road, the track of the cycle is usually the best footway on the whole road. From the moment the ridiculous nature of the incident struck mc I made u£ my mind that wherever the road was unuseable I would cycle on the patb, until the" time that I shouldi be able to express my views to the Magistrate; as I felt that the cycte community is too fairge and/ important a one to receive the scant courtesy that H does at the present time. ; Since my protest the Road Board have remetalled this portion of the road—-that is, all but the very muddy parts—and. thi former track of possibility (or, as it appeared in its slimy state, polished by the cycles, a meandering stream of riskiness) ibas disappeared, with the curious result that cyclists use tie path, only" they scorch. An individual passed' mc on his cycle, going at the rate of, say, some ten miles an hour, but he rapidly got up speed, and I wondered what for; but I did not have long to wait,, for he soorched on to the side path with a speed of a motor, and flew along in the same headlong way. ObviouaLy, from the time, be was on the footway his risk of being caught was about one-thdrd of mine. I could imagine tbci catastrophe that would have happened had someone come quickly out of the gateway. Tims the startling effect of our sapient legislation is to promote by the best means possible scorching on the'/footDatb. Sir, if you could on answer to my question I should ba greatly obliged.— Yours, etc., ' A. W. BIOKERT^N. Wainoni, Christohurch.