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Speed Demon!


Subdeacon Joe

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Utter disregard for safety!

 

"On this day in 1899, police gave out the first automobile speeding citation in U.S. history—to a New York City cab driver who was traveling 12 miles per hour.⁠

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Sunday, May 21, 1899 reports, "Bicycle Roundsman Schuessler saw German making twelve miles an hour on Lexington Avenue early last evening ... pursuing the man he saw him round the corner of Twenty-third street, an always crowded place, at the same break neck speed."⁠

German was arrested and locked up for the night, and according to the newspaper report, both he and the electric cab company he worked for were "surprised.""

 

 

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Some things don't seem to change:

"They were "selfish, reckless, impudent transgressors of the law and trespassers upon the rights of others," the Tribune harrumphed. The newspaper described scorchers as cyclists "who delight to whirl around corners without warning and sweep down upon the unwary on a crossing, with a laugh at the alarm they cause and only a very slight fear of the police.""

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I have a picture somewhere of my dad, ca about 1926, dressed as a motorcycle cop in a school play called "Forty Miles An Hour".

 

It's a story about a man in his Kansas town who was terrorizing the people by racing around until Dad ran him down and arrested him.

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7 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

Some things don't seem to change:

"They were "selfish, reckless, impudent transgressors of the law and trespassers upon the rights of others," the Tribune harrumphed. The newspaper described scorchers as cyclists "who delight to whirl around corners without warning and sweep down upon the unwary on a crossing, with a laugh at the alarm they cause and only a very slight fear of the police.""

 

 

 ............ sounds like some kids on push-bikes from down the road these days ..........   :o

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32 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

Did they have bicycle speedometers in 1899?

 

Of a sort:

 

"In 1895, Curtis H. Veeder invented the Cyclometer.[1][2][3] The Cyclometer was a simple mechanical device that counted the number of rotations of a bicycle wheel.[4][5] A cable transmitted the number of rotations of the wheel to an analog odometer visible to the rider, which converted the wheel rotations into the number of miles traveled according to a predetermined formula. After founding the Veeder Manufacturing Company, Veeder promoted the Cyclometer with the slogan, It's Nice to Know How Far You Go.[6] The Cyclometer's success led to many other competing types of mechanical computing devices. Eventually, cyclometers were developed that could measure speed as well as distance traveled."

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On 5/22/2023 at 11:15 PM, watab kid said:

just imagine a cop in that day encountering a viper at speed ..............they had no idea what break neck speed really was 

Imagine taking a viper at speed on 1890 roads...

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