The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-28

Inc very regrettaDle bicycle aecl-
dent of yesterday should serve
to draw the attention of
thinking people to the fact that the
wheel. while a convenient business vehi-
Gle and delightful apparatus of recrea-
ton. cannot be trusted like a well-broken
family horse. The wheel has no instinct
i've sense to govern it when its rider tenn
| porarily loses presence of mind. 1t is fine
ly balanced on ball bearings, and in the
absence Of proper control will obey
the law of gravitation, and make gyra-
| tons and fall TO the ground. At such times
the rider is liable to be precipitated I'M
der a wagon, against a tree or curb.
stone, or elsewhere in places Of great dan
ger. In view of this fact, inexperienced
riders should never venture in streets
crowded with traffic on a bicycle. The
wheel should be perfectly mastered. and
the rider should have perfect self-p posses
sion, before venturing among the hurry
and hustle on the principal streets. An
instant's doubt as the proper thing to do,
a seconds hesitation, or a seconds aber-
ration, may cost a limb or life.
Savannah has had very few bicycle acct
dents, comparatively speaking, when it is
considered how many wheels are in use
here, what reckless riding is seen every
day, and what risks are taken a thousand
times a day. Notwithstanding the ever
present dangers of the busy Streets at
any hour of the day little children may be
seen careering up and down Bull and
Broughton and Congress street on wheels.
Little girls, as young as or years old,
are seen rocking, swinging, curving and
twisting along In front of horses and in
the path Of adult cycle riders. 1t is i'm
possible to tell what they are going 10 do
or when they are going to do it, Their
ways are more inscrutable than the Sc
cret of the sphynx. With a baby stare
they will deliberately turn their wheels al
the most critical moments, and get direct
ly across the path of a wagon, carriage
or bicycle; and then there must be smart
hustling on the part of the adult to pre-
vent a tragedy. Near the De Soto Hotel
few days ago a lady took the risk of
| losing life or limb to avoid a collision
with the wheel of a little girl. The lady
saw that an attempt to save herself from
the consequences of a collision with the
gyrating erratic little maiden would prob
ably result In serious hurt to the child,
so she elected to take the fall herself
1t was a terrible "'header" on the cruel
| asphalt, and it was not short of miracle
that the lady escaped with a terribly
| bruised face aud cut lips instead of a
fractured Uranium or dislocated spine, or
both. Still, parents permit their little tots
TO mount the dangerous wheels and min
gle with the nenacing travel on the bust
est streets of8the city The law cannot
watch all of these things. The police can
not take care of everything There is
some responsibility resting upon parents
and guardians.
Another fruitful source of accidents of
late is the lack of brakes on the wheels
On Flow geared" wheels, brakes in a city
like Savannah are not an absolute neces-
sity. BY back pedaling" on a low geared
wheel an expert rider can check his mo-
mentum and stop his wheel in a short dis
lance. But low geared" wheels have now
about gone out of fashion in Savannah,
and nearly everybody is riding wheels
that go from eighteen to twenty-one feet
quires from two to four revolutions of the
pedals in back pedaling" to check and
stop a wheel going at the average speed
Multiply eighteen to twenty-one feet by
four and it will be seen how far a wheel
without brake will go before the rider
can stop it by back pedaling" 1t is
sometimes imperatively necessary to stop
wheel quickly if an accident is to be
avoided, hence with the high geared'
Wheels there is need for a quick acting
positive brake, one that can be applied in
stantly and can be depended upon to do
the work required of it, "a number of
more or less serious accidents, and bad
spills have lately occurred here because
of lack of brakes.
All riders should bear in mind that the
bicycle is not a toy, whatever else it may
be; 1t cannot safely be played with An
| other thing which every person while rid
ing a wheel should keep in mind is, never
to give anybody else credit for any intel
lgence whatever.