Quoted message said:Quoted message said:'The trouble with the facts about the law-breaking of the motorists
and the motor interests is that there are too many: it is difficult
even to grasp them. In fact, the position has long since passed far
beyond the limits of ordinary law-breaking and become an exhibition of
national degeneracy.'
This is the .sig on my private email, since about four months ago :-)
Guy
Good one!
Cheers,
Howard.
P.s another quote for you. This one is from A.W. Rumney's 'A cyclist's
note book'. This is a diary compiled in 1899 by Rumney who was to edit
the CTC Gazette for many years. This entry is from 10 October 1899.
(Speaking of the automobile)
'We want people to know we are coming and get out of our way; and we
shall add to the din by tooting a horn that the angel Gabriel would be
proud of if his object was to wake the dead by making the loudest and
most disagreeable noise possible. No matter if we leave a trail of
odour behind that makes the sulphurous fumes of the infernal regions
smell sweet by contrast; no matter that the machine is so little under
control as to speed and direction that we smash into cabs, bicycles
and pedestrians; the one fact remains, it will go, and go fast, and
that is what we want.'
Another, this time from ‘The Art of Cycling by Nigel Spencer written
in 1947:
'The carnage which occurs on our national roads presents a problem of
the gravest importance. Unfortunately the tremendous toll of lives is
rarely the result of an accident pure and simple; most of the
so-called accidents are the outcome of carelessness, thoughtlessness,
selfishness and stupidity, together with ignorance and inefficiency,
and behaviour of this kind exhibited by any class of road user is no
less criminal than malicious violence...'
Finally, from a turn of the (19th) century copy of Punch...
The Motorcrat.
I AM he: goggled and unashamed. Furred also am I, stop-watched and
horse-powerful. millions admit my sway-on both sides of the road. The
Plutocrat has money; I have motors. The Democrat has the rates; so
have I- two- one for use and one for County Courts. The Autocrat dead,
but I- I increase and multiply. I have taken his place.
I blow my horn and people scatter. I stand still and everything
trembles. I move and kill dogs. I skid and chickens die. I pass
swiftly from place to place, and horses bolt in dust storms which
cover the land. I make dust storms. For I an Omnipotent; I make
everything. I make dust, I make smell, I make noise. And I go forward,
ever forward, and pass though or over almost everything. "Over or
Through" is my motto.
The roads were made for me; years ago they were made. Wise rulers saw
me coming and made roads. Now that I am come they go on making roads-
making them up. For I break things. Roads I break and Rules of the
Road. Statutory limits were made for me. I break them. I break the
dull silence of the country. Sometimes I break down, and thousands
flock round me, so that I dislocate the traffic. But I am the Traffic.
I am I and She is She- the rest get out of the way. Truly, the hand
which rules the motor rocks the world.
