CYCLISTS ON ROADS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 24, 29 January 1927, Page 8

CYCLISTS ON ROADS

(To the. Editor.) ■'Sir,—The proposal to 'prohibit- cyclists' using the bitiiiuen roads, as put forwavu in iho Post cannot be allowed to iro without protest,. What, if ■ any, are the grounds for this? The bicycle is the lightest and smallest vehicle using the roads, bilent and speedy, asking for some two feet p£ space, what objectionable feature can * ft forward? ;Is it proposed that, all ™, ad?,?re to be purely motor speedways? Xhe_ bicycle is a carriage, and, subject to the usual laws governing such and conforming to the "Rule of the Road" arid the courtesy of.the road, is surely entitled to the use of any roadway, no matter of what surface.. The amount of wear put on a road, surface by a bicycle cannot be expressed in figures. Assuming, at the Pf onntl, a total .T eight for cy°le and rider ,°u ' i \i? "^H tre, ad of (many ride 1 3-8 m tires) what can the road suffer?- Again, m traffic, the bicycle is easily the fastest vehicle on the road Just notice a.cyclist on his! low-built machine threading Ins way'..through-the traffic Ihe very narrowness of his mount enables him to take advantage of every cpeiuug while his "get-away" whenvonce tlie load is open is usually an eye-oriener to one wha has not previously watched it It is admitted that thsre is a vast differf, uce.. "jetween a "bicycle rider" and - a "cyclist." The former is a- problem Usually nioimted on a machine far too big^for him, absolutely innocent of am-i-bad knowledge or road sense, brakes out of order, -lampless,..- bell-less, he usually ottends through sheer ignorance. The cyclist," on the other hand, has his mount under perfect control. His equipment is complete, and in working order Ho is not in the traffic, but of it' He instinctively speeds up or checks as the stream vanes. His signals are cWar aud_ prompt, and he accepts the other fellow s signals and acts on them at once He has a bell, but very' seldom uses it ile tabes chances. Appreciating the fact that he rides the most fragile vehicle on the road, he realises that if anything happens, he is coming off a decided secondbest, and so acts on the principle that it is better to be a minute or two late in this world than be some twenty-five years too soon in the next. • The campaign against the bicycle is assuming serious proportions. Do cyclists realise that they are in a fair way to be denied the right to ride at all? Are any cyclists ever consulted when these "rules" or bylaws are put forward? I am afraid not, for there is no organised body to speak for them. Were a traffic census taken, as is done regularly at Home, it would most probably show the same result—that cyclists are the most numerous ■of any one class of traffic. Why should they, then, be singled out for persecution? If they only realise it they can, by organisation, put themselves iv a far more favourable position. If they do not soon wake up they will find one fine morning that to own, much less ride, a bicycle has overnight become"a crime.—l am, etc.,' ' ■ ■■' C.T.C.