Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1897-12-09
IN CYCLEDOM.
BICYCLING ACCIDENTS.
Analysis OF Their Causes Made by M
English Journal.


English Journal.
About 40 persons have come by their
deaths from cycling during the pres
emit season, and about 100 more have
been seriously injured. This estimate,
which is based on a very careful ex-
animation of the files of the daily pa
pers, may not be quite as complete and
conclusive as one could have wished,
but if it errs it certainly does not do
so on the score OF over-estimation.
It is noteworthy that no reliable
statistics exist on the subject, for even
The cycling papers. or the majority of
them, from motives which seem curious
to the lay mind, customarily preserve
complete silence on the misdoings of
the wheel or of its riders. This ostrich
ike policy, however, defeats its own
ends. since trade paper, with a grasp
IN its subject, could easily pulverize
the arguments of alarmists, armed
though they should be with butchers
bill as serious as that recorded above.
It Is indeed serious, for it takes no ac-
count Of the myriad minor mishaps
which befall most wheelmen, sooner or
later, in their careers, and yet it is
neither abnormal nor alarming.
trian there is really little to complain
OF. Probably five fatal accidents and
twice as many serious mishaps to mem
bers of the general public are to be laid
to the charge of the whole body of cy-
clists. They are regrettable, yet they
do not bear the least proportion in the
world to the havoc wrought by light
and rapidly-moving horse-drawn We
hicles. And the cycle has every whit as
much right as the trap on the road, and.
too, the machine which runs away with
its rider does infinitesimally less dam
age than the horse which bolts.
AS regards accidents to cyclists
themselves, men are of course most
numerous sufferers, yet some six wom-
en- have lost their lives this year, rather
a large percentage of the whole death
roll. Sixty per cent. of the accidents
have been caused by riders losing con-
troll of their machines while descend
ing steep hills. Unfortunately no rec
ord exists as to the presence or absence
of brake on these occasions, but the
negative Inference is probably correct
in most of the cases. Track riding pure
and simple only produced relatively
few bad spills. Collisions with other
vehicles accounted for 20 per cent. of
the whole total of accidents, yet cases
of skidding wheels are not specially
numerous. In one case a woman lost
her life through riding on the wrong
side of the road. Three out of every five
recorded cases of collisions with We
hicles brought death to the cyclist
Yet culpable negligence on the part of
riders is almost thing unknown.
There have been several cases of heat
exhaustion and fatal attacks of syn
cope, but fewer than might have been
expected from the varying age and con-
dition of the people who ride. Ruts
threw several riders, and the wander
ing flock of sheep was not without its
victim. One noticeable fact is that
very few serious mishaps have been en-
tailed by defective or faulty machines
On the whole, while it should be cas-
lily possible to secure happily smaller
death roll in the future, there need be
no alarm as to the consequences of this
form of locomotion, since it is probably
the least destructive of human life of
any known. This might take time to
substantive, but it is true.-London
Mail.