MOTORDOM

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 153, 24 March 1939, Page 13

MOTORDOM

by

Chassis

CYCLISTS AND CO-OPERATION IN ROAD SAFETY

Plea For Fuller Observation Of Simple Rules

Without making anv attempt to whitewash those motorists who do not play the game towards other users of the roads, there is ample justification for stating that if more of the army of cyclists made more thoughtful use of the road, and showed a greater care for their own well-being, there would be an improved reciprocity between cyclists and motorists, and thoroughfares would be safer for each.

A recent run, which Included several large and small towns in the North Island, supplied far too much evidence of the general neglect of cyclists concerning the keep-to-the-left regulation as it applies to them. Possibly because motor traffic is faster just out from built-up areas than within them, the cyclists appear to have a greater respect for their own safety and for the vehicles which ore overtaking and passing them outside built-up areas.

In built-up areas, however, where the 30 miles speed limit applies, and the average cyclist finds himself more or less on level speed terms with motorists, the cyclists show a disposition to obstruct traffic, thoughtlessly of course, by riding too far out from the extreme left of safely usable roadway. This failing does not apply to adults so much as to boys and youths, the errand boy and the schoolboy being fairly prominent offenders. There seems to be a need for regular education of boys and girls to the end that they must learn, and act upon, the simple rules of safety.

At one time it was obvious to anyone who did any travelling that there was a type of cyclist abroad who rode defiantly out towards the middle of the road, but the type has been converted, apparently, to safer and saner ways of thinking. There are still many cyclists who could assist themselves, and overtaking motorists, by some slight acknowledgment of the fact that a warning

from overtaking traffic has been heard. Some riders, warned by motorists that they are too far out from the side channel, continue on their course seemingly deaf to warning. Such cyclists are not deaf, because the deaf cyclist, like your deaf motorist, is invariably a much safer rider or driver than those who hear but will not heed. The deaf cyclist or motorist acts on what he sees and not what he hears; in other words, they do not outride or outdrive their sight.

It should be known by all cyclists that they are not .entitled to half the road, but only to sufficient to allow them to advance in safety.

Cyclists are bound by regulations the same as other road users, and clause 2, Regulation 22, demands that every rider shall keep the bicycle as close as is practicable to his left of the roadway. Clause 3 demands that every rider shall, at all times, keep the vehicle as far as practicable to his left of any longitudinal line or lines on the roadway marked at corners, bends, or turnings, by authorities for the direction of traffic.

It is clear, therefore, that the cyclist has his well-defined duty towards other road users, as well as towards himself. Nowadays the improvement of city thoroughfares with sealing work widened to the channelling in many instances, and improved camber of roads, the cyclist has no excuse for riding wide out from the channelling. Such riding, where the road surface is satisfactory, is dangerous, as well as discourteous where a single bicycle is concerned, but where two cyclists are riding abreast the folly of riding near the middle of the road is obvious. It is easy to become preoccupied when cycling and lapse into careless riding, and an appeal is made to the thoughtful, intelligent cyclist who wishes to make his contribution to safety on the streets and roads. Keep as close as is practicable to your left of the roadway.