UNDERGRADUATE PAGE
As to Motor-Cycles
By JOHN W. CRAWFORD (Glasgow University.) "F forty thousand casualties in a single year will not shock motor-cyclists into driving more carefully, what will ? "
I do not know what will; but, in my opinion, statistics will not. I have not yet a motor-cycle; but am awaiting, with some impatience, the delivery of one. Consequently the recent Report of the Committee on Road Safety, which prompted the above sentence quoted from the Spectator, has come at a par- ticularly inopportune moment. Such a docupient is hardly calculated to alleviate my father's misgivings about investing capital in a motor-cycle. Both as a means of transport and as a sport, motor-cycling has become, in ,recent years, extremely popular. The sporting side has received much more attention in the popular 'Press than formerly; possibly because this is one of the few remaining sports in which British competitors and manufacturers con- tinue to lead the world. As transport its main attraction is cheapness. The consumption of oil and petrol is low; repairs are mostly done at home; and, less obviously perhaps, it is a physical impossibility to enjoy a cigarette while riding. The low petrol-consumption coupled with the rapid rise in the price of petrol (and cigarettes?), which has doubled even in my short motoring life, must be the main reason for the great increase in popularity—and therefore in casualties. It is the cheapest form of transport that is neither unbearably slow nor physically fatiguing.
There are, of course, other attractions. Riding a bike in dry weather is an exhilarating experience, but this exposure to the elements changes from exhilaration to acute discomfort in wet weather. In addition wet roads are dangerous. This has contributed to the comparative unpopularity of motor- cycling in the West of Scotland. Then again there is the personal observation that the girls who ride pillion on motor- bikes seem, at any rate in this district, to be particularly attractive. The overriding consideration, however, is cheap- ness. Other attractions only become apparent after a bike has been owned. This is strikingly exemplified in the change of outlook which comes with-ownership. 1 am, in common with most people, starting with a small bike: but I have noticed that those of my friends who own bikes have subsequently got, or wished they had, a more powerful model. If the individual becomes thus afflicted, he can work up from 125 c.c. models, whose performance is comparable to that of a 7 h.p. car, to 1,000 c.c. models, which are superior in speed to most cars. Apparently one starts motor-cycling for reasons of economy, and then, at first insidiously and later overwhelmingly, there comes the insatiable desire for more speed, for more thrill; which, I feel, can only end when the driver is killed or disabled, or, if he survives long enough, when his bank-balance becomes compatible with car-ownership. Accidents are caused on motor-cycles for many reasons, some of them obvious. A cycle is intrinsically more dangerous than a car; almost invariably at the slightest mishap the riders are thrown froni the machine. I have skidded many times in the car, and yet it and myself are so far unscathed, and in any case the danger was twisted metal rather than broken bones. Yet on the one occasion when a bike I was riding skidded (in tram-rails, the bane of Glasgow motor-cyclists), the abra- sions on one side of my body only just healed in time to prevent the development of bed sores on the other; sleeping on the same side every night for a fortnight is purgatory. The very cheapness of motor-cycling is itself a danger. There are always some people trying to make it cheaper than it is by " economising " in such items as tyres or brakes. And who can resist the temptation to show that attractive girl on the pillion what the bike, and incidentally yourself, are capable of doing ? There is another reason I have just discovered. The average car runs very well at 20 m.p.h. and can climb hills at 25 m.p.h. in top .gear; while many bikes must travel at 30 m.p.h. or 35 m.p.h. on a hill to develop enough power for this gear. This tempts the cyclist, who wishes to avoid the constant irritation of gear-changing, to cruise at 35 m.p.h. whether the law permits or road conditions make it advisable.
There is another aspect of road-safety. The smaller the vehicle the less respect it receives. The double-decker bus is king of the road. Bus-routes are the main roads, not those bestraddled with the sign " HALT MAJOR ROAD AHEAD," as the Highway Code so naively enjoins. I once was annoyed with bus-drivers who thundered out from side roads, but now. when I observe a driver using irate epithets or apoplectic gesticulations at buses, I class him as a novice as surely as those with an " L." The most my dignity, as a car-driver of four years' standing, will allow me is a reproachful upwards glance at the deity enthroned above, my head at the level of his disdainful feet. From the bus one can pass right down the hierarchy of road-transport; lorries, private cars, motor- cyclists, pedal-cyclists and pedestrians. Each one, as the scale is descended, receives less and less respect.
It will be seen that motor-cyclists get the worst of both worlds. Pedestrians and pedal-cyclists get even less consideration, it is true, but if left to their own devices find it difficult to kill one another. Motor-cyclists are not only liable to be killed. but are also capable of killing themselves most efficiently even if left alone. This they do because they are, speaking generally, young : and, in spite of their excellent driving abilities (in the sense that they control their machines well and react swiftly to danger), are, on account of their youth, prone to speed and even recklessness. I have a suspicion that drivers, whatever their age, who are capable and confident are involved in more accidents than the more nervous driver conscious of his inexpertness. If this is true, driving tests are doomed to fail in their main purpose..
The Government, conscious of its responsibilities, has taken some steps to protect the public and the drivers. There are the driving-licence regulations, including the driving-test, but the doddering old dears who formulate these regulations apparently require a report to make them appreciate the inadvisability of deeming a person capable of passing the test with an auto-cycle (25 m.p.h. if you pedal well) also capable of riding a 1,000 c.c. motor-cycle (speeds in excess of 120 m.p.h. guaranteed). Some of these regulations are not only ludicrous in practice but even in theory. My present licence states that I am " licensed to drive motor cars, or tricycles equipped with means of reversing." I suggest that, if I am capable of driving a tricycle backwards and forwards, I am also capable of driving it only forwards. Apart from these considerations, the test itself is of very limited use. How a motor-cyclist behaves driving round a square under an examiner's eye is of little value in estimating what he will do when left to himself on the open road.
For the main problem there seems no solution. It is at least debatable whether wider and straighter roads will help. since speed will inevitably increase correspondingly. An upper speed-limit on cycles might, but this is hardly the problem. since 120 m.p.h. can, in certain circumstances, be safer than 20 m.p.h. in other circumstances. For myself, I am becoming a cyclist fully realising that motor-cycles are not only, like cars, potentially homicidal, but also potentially suicidal. This may help.
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