Sheffield_Tiger
Guru
(*Menace)
A bit of nostalgia that i found this afternoon. Scanned from a "Cyclist" supplement of Practical Mechanics magazine..
http://www.sheffieldtiger.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/files/Cyclist-Jan-1960.pdf
With talk of licences for bicycles, and criticisms of the car driving test....doesn't sound so different really....
The Cycle as a Trainer
ALMOST everyone nowadays, whether
they live in the country or in the
town, has, in some capacity or other,
to use the roads, be it only as a pedestrian
crossing them from time to time.
Young pedestrians while they are still at
school are taught the principles of road
safety and crossing-the-road drill, but the
one thing this training cannot give them is
an appreciation of the other road user's point
of view. TIle young road user obviously
cannot gain first-hand knowledge of motoring,
but he can, by means of a bic c1e, gain
experience of travelling along a road as
opposed to the purely pedestrian experience
of merely crossing it.
The pedestrian who has personal experience
of cycling is in a much bener position
to understand the problems of motorists and
cyclists. He will understand, for instance,
that if he causes an oncoming cyclist to
brake sharply on a wet road, the cyclist is
likely to skid. He will also understand that
parked cars can obscure the vision of the
oncoming motorist. In other words, he will
readily be able to put himself in the place
of other road users and by understanding
their difficulties, use the road more intelligently
himself.
There is another aspect of this idea of
using the bicyck as a trainer. The experienced
cyclist has a road sense unequalled
by any other class of road user. He is the
most vulnerable of all road users, and in
addition to learning all the techniques necessary
for using the modern road, he develops,
self preservation being a primary instinct,
an almost exaggeratedly cautious sense of
safety first. If he takes this sense with
him when he becomes a motorist, he will
be a far bener driver than are many one
meets on the road to-day.
A Cycling Licence
Although the days have past when cyclists
were invariably described as "menaces" by
motorist and blamed for far more than
their fair share of road accidents, the question
of applying a system of testing to
cyclists as well as to motorists docs
occasionally arise. In fact tllese tests
already exist in a way. The cycling proficiency
test, although not compulsory. can
he attempted by children and a certificate
obtained.
If a scheme for testing cyclists and issuing
them with licences were mooted. it is
probable that a great many cyclists would
oppose it vigorollsly. Would such a sd1eme,
however, be such a bad idea? If we agree
to the testing of motorists. why not cyclists?
There are a great many people who think
that the present system of testing drivers
docs not go far enough. They liken it to a
schoolboy swotting for his exams, passing
them and then proceeding to forget all he
has taken so much trouble to learn. A
driver, carefully and meticulously observing
every rule of tlle road and being courteous
to pedestrians and otller road users while he
has the examiner beside him, is a very different
person when seen a month or two later.
The present system is unfair in another
way too, in that a great many drivers at
present using the roads have never had to
pass a test at all, as they were driving before
the present system of testing drivers was
started. The solution suggested to these
problems IS to make it compulsory to take
a test every twO or three years. This would
ensure that all drivers and cyclists reach
and. maintain approximately the same
standard; it would also weed OUt those
whose sight is failing or who are otherwise
unfit to drive or ride.
Probably, however, these tests will have
to remain in the idea stage for a long time.
Judging by the disgraceful time one has to
wait to take the test-running into months
usually-it is doubtful whether any Government
department would be capable of
organising the scheme. taking into account
the vast amount of extra work involved.
among a small minority group of cyclists
~u~ deserves to be wider enjoyed. And why
IS It regarded as a winter activity? Surely
the chaotic state of the roads during tllis
last Sunlffier would indicate that during tlle
hot weatller IS the ideal time to leave tlle
roads altogetller for the les er known tracks
and paths. One reads from time to time of
hair-raising pass-storming expeditions undertak~
by cy~lists over almost impossible
terram, but given the right ort of mad1ine
and .riding it intelligentJy, tllere need be
nothmg remotely hazardous or daring about
roughstuff riding. It will take tlle cyclist
into parts of the country tllat cannot be
invaded by the motorist wim his accompanying
effluvia of petrol vapour and smoke
and enable him to enjoy views amid the
quiet of the countryside miles away from
the nearest road.
B.S. for Chromium Plating
Chromium plated parts on a bicycle are
called upon to stand up to pretty severe
conditions of weatller and wear and in the
past, particularly just after tlle war, they
were .tried many times by cyclists and found
wanting. To-day, a severe defect in
chromium plating, so far as the cyclist is
concerned, is an infrequent occurrence, but
with the introduction of this new standard
it will become almost unknown Th~
The "Roughstufl" Season standard of chromium plate requiIed for
Triggered off. no doubt, by the revived cycles is to be marked with a red label and
interest in cyclo-cross, there seems to have one of the main features of the new high
been an increased participation during the standard will be an increased depo it of
past couple of years in tlle sport of " rough- nickel under tlle chromium top coat.
sruff" riding. This has~lwal's _been popular Comprehensive tests will be applied."
A bit of nostalgia that i found this afternoon. Scanned from a "Cyclist" supplement of Practical Mechanics magazine..
http://www.sheffieldtiger.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/files/Cyclist-Jan-1960.pdf
With talk of licences for bicycles, and criticisms of the car driving test....doesn't sound so different really....
The Cycle as a Trainer
ALMOST everyone nowadays, whether
they live in the country or in the
town, has, in some capacity or other,
to use the roads, be it only as a pedestrian
crossing them from time to time.
Young pedestrians while they are still at
school are taught the principles of road
safety and crossing-the-road drill, but the
one thing this training cannot give them is
an appreciation of the other road user's point
of view. TIle young road user obviously
cannot gain first-hand knowledge of motoring,
but he can, by means of a bic c1e, gain
experience of travelling along a road as
opposed to the purely pedestrian experience
of merely crossing it.
The pedestrian who has personal experience
of cycling is in a much bener position
to understand the problems of motorists and
cyclists. He will understand, for instance,
that if he causes an oncoming cyclist to
brake sharply on a wet road, the cyclist is
likely to skid. He will also understand that
parked cars can obscure the vision of the
oncoming motorist. In other words, he will
readily be able to put himself in the place
of other road users and by understanding
their difficulties, use the road more intelligently
himself.
There is another aspect of this idea of
using the bicyck as a trainer. The experienced
cyclist has a road sense unequalled
by any other class of road user. He is the
most vulnerable of all road users, and in
addition to learning all the techniques necessary
for using the modern road, he develops,
self preservation being a primary instinct,
an almost exaggeratedly cautious sense of
safety first. If he takes this sense with
him when he becomes a motorist, he will
be a far bener driver than are many one
meets on the road to-day.
A Cycling Licence
Although the days have past when cyclists
were invariably described as "menaces" by
motorist and blamed for far more than
their fair share of road accidents, the question
of applying a system of testing to
cyclists as well as to motorists docs
occasionally arise. In fact tllese tests
already exist in a way. The cycling proficiency
test, although not compulsory. can
he attempted by children and a certificate
obtained.
If a scheme for testing cyclists and issuing
them with licences were mooted. it is
probable that a great many cyclists would
oppose it vigorollsly. Would such a sd1eme,
however, be such a bad idea? If we agree
to the testing of motorists. why not cyclists?
There are a great many people who think
that the present system of testing drivers
docs not go far enough. They liken it to a
schoolboy swotting for his exams, passing
them and then proceeding to forget all he
has taken so much trouble to learn. A
driver, carefully and meticulously observing
every rule of tlle road and being courteous
to pedestrians and otller road users while he
has the examiner beside him, is a very different
person when seen a month or two later.
The present system is unfair in another
way too, in that a great many drivers at
present using the roads have never had to
pass a test at all, as they were driving before
the present system of testing drivers was
started. The solution suggested to these
problems IS to make it compulsory to take
a test every twO or three years. This would
ensure that all drivers and cyclists reach
and. maintain approximately the same
standard; it would also weed OUt those
whose sight is failing or who are otherwise
unfit to drive or ride.
Probably, however, these tests will have
to remain in the idea stage for a long time.
Judging by the disgraceful time one has to
wait to take the test-running into months
usually-it is doubtful whether any Government
department would be capable of
organising the scheme. taking into account
the vast amount of extra work involved.
among a small minority group of cyclists
~u~ deserves to be wider enjoyed. And why
IS It regarded as a winter activity? Surely
the chaotic state of the roads during tllis
last Sunlffier would indicate that during tlle
hot weatller IS the ideal time to leave tlle
roads altogetller for the les er known tracks
and paths. One reads from time to time of
hair-raising pass-storming expeditions undertak~
by cy~lists over almost impossible
terram, but given the right ort of mad1ine
and .riding it intelligentJy, tllere need be
nothmg remotely hazardous or daring about
roughstuff riding. It will take tlle cyclist
into parts of the country tllat cannot be
invaded by the motorist wim his accompanying
effluvia of petrol vapour and smoke
and enable him to enjoy views amid the
quiet of the countryside miles away from
the nearest road.
B.S. for Chromium Plating
Chromium plated parts on a bicycle are
called upon to stand up to pretty severe
conditions of weatller and wear and in the
past, particularly just after tlle war, they
were .tried many times by cyclists and found
wanting. To-day, a severe defect in
chromium plating, so far as the cyclist is
concerned, is an infrequent occurrence, but
with the introduction of this new standard
it will become almost unknown Th~
The "Roughstufl" Season standard of chromium plate requiIed for
Triggered off. no doubt, by the revived cycles is to be marked with a red label and
interest in cyclo-cross, there seems to have one of the main features of the new high
been an increased participation during the standard will be an increased depo it of
past couple of years in tlle sport of " rough- nickel under tlle chromium top coat.
sruff" riding. This has~lwal's _been popular Comprehensive tests will be applied."
