A DANGEROUS PRACTICE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 64, 7 July 1914, Page 4

A DANGEROUS PRACTICE.

The warning given by the Coroner at a recent inquest in Wandsworth against the practice among motorcyclists of riding with a girl perched behind on the carrier is endorsed by the Autocycle Union (says the London Daily Mail of May 9.) Observation shows that this practice is steadily incerasing, though there is abundance of evidence to prove its danger. The motor-cycle is not a stable machine and its equilibrium is only maintained with some effort. The youth with his Phyllis behind has an unsteady balance and an insufficient control over his cycle. He is thus a danger not only to her and to himself, but also to the public. Nearly half the accidents which are privately reported to the Autocycle Union are, it appears, due to the presence of a second rider behind, and a heavy addition is made to the insurance rate of more than one person. Whether the police should not interfere and forbid the practice is a serious question. In Germany, it may bo noted, such riding is strictly forbidden in the towns, as are also the conveyance of children on ordinary cycles, and the very dangerous trick of holding onto motor-cars by cyclists, which is all too common in this country.