Cycling Accidents.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXXVII, Issue 11796, 2 December 1902, Page 7

Cycling Accidents.

THEIR CAUSES

A tragic list of cycling ac. idea is was compiled by the Cyclists' Toaiii g Ciub lately and published in the London JJaily Mail, and created a great-sensation in the trade and among cyclists. That twenty-four fatal and seventyei#ht other casualties had occurred to cyclists between August 25 and September 25 was received by all with the utmost astonishment. The' amazement was iiK.-rca.sed when riders notice! that the list might have •been longer still, there being accidents of which they themselves were aware and which did "not appear in the record. An inquiry' among experts for some explanation 1 of the terrible list brought forth a chorus of condensation of the redder - ness with which, inanv cyclists rule and by which they not only endanger themselves and other*., but threaten to bring into disrepute what should be a safe and tho^\hKrto^^ofT£ aeddents there w«c no other than the cross carlessness of the ndere. The list iteelf proved that. In a great m an.yiLZee.tL cause of the accident Sm stated to be that the rider had lost Sol of his machine. Cycles, it w« Sled out. were not like horses, which SdwOW then' own to be contended with, and which might get out of control Through causes which .could in no jay^ be inr^Qen Properly treated, the cycle nevei tot out oTcontrol except under certain condSL which were perfectly well-known KTTiveTiirW^M tf^ ■ SarnSs The C.T C. had put up danger TiS/at every hill which had been pointed out to them as dangerous. Many, however, regarded the boards only as notices announcing especially good places for disregarding all ordinary precautions.. Thera were few hills which oould not be .ridden dewn by good and cool headed riders whose machines had efficient brakes. Such riders knew that they must keep their speed under control from the start, and therefor* never allow their machines , to set out of hand and acquire more mo-. mentum than the brakes could deal with On the ether hand, the reckless would not condescend to use their brakes till they began to grow alarmed at the speed tuey were making, -and then it was too late. ] ■It was not thought at the club that much of the blame for the casualties was due to faulty construction. There were cheap and bad machines on -the market, but the purchase of them marked the buyer at once as a reckless person. Machines wore being made of very light weight, but were not necessarily dangerous on that account The .frames ™™ designed on scientific principles as to the strains, so that nowadays a machine would be sate at a weight which would haYA been: dangerous *" OF EXPERTS. The manager of Messrs Lea and Francis, of Piccadilly, well-known makers, bore out Sifopinion, though he added that his firm had steadily refused to be tempted by the desire for light machines. He was astounded at the ffreat number of accidents. It was, however, the first list he had seen, and and he thought that possibly had the record been kept throughout the past five or six "years the total of that month wquld not now come as such a sunprise. It was Sao to be remembered that the number of. riders was greater now than ever before dan that the total accidents shown would probably not amount to one-twentieth ot one per cent, on the total of riders. Eiders were now meeting a certain amount of -extra danger in consequence of the drivers of all other vehicles being still unaware of the additional care necessary on their part now that so many cyclists were on the roads. The ordinary driver did not keep anything like a sharp look-out, because cycles were no danger to him. The cyclist had to take practically all the safeguards, and many riders ■were too reckless. No one he said, ought to mount a machine without first seeing that it was in order and testing the brakes. The free wheel itself did not add to the danger where care was used, but iti was absolutely incumbent with it to be sure that *itaSmwuS^bHnTOir. The manager of a company who made a soeciality of the "featherweight" machine, emphatically denied that the saving of weight was obtained by reducing the e&ciency of the brakes and fittings. At 251b a machine properly designed would carry a man of 14st weight, and its brakes ■would hold him on the steepest hill so long ( as he kept the speed under ucontrol. Ihe trouble lay with the recklessness of the 11 The manager of Humber's pointed out that his threehorse power motor-cycle which won the recent Wester-ham hillclimbing contests was fitted with two or-dinary-cycle brakes, which were found sufficient'even with a motor that could make over thirty »lites. an hour. This would show that a machine fitted with a rim brake on each wheel could not get out of control except through sheer car-^ lraHellfteri. watched with horror the way oyclists, especially .girls, rode among the traffic of Holbom Viaduct in all vreatihew, twisting and turning in reckless haste™ order to go faster than the flow of the ordinary vehicles. The least slip would Sing them down and mean a bad .accident That sort of thing was typical of the general recklessness. The manager of the Singer Cycle Company remarked on the way the newspaper U ride Snrough the London traffic as showing that practically any risk could be run by those who had sufficient nerve. But the reckless tried to imitate them and lost then- head. With proper.care there ■was no Inherent danger in cycling.