On Two Wheels (1940)

here ye anyone having business before court a juvenile traffic sple riding here youth rers who break traffic LA brought before a judge under of their own age and there are many of these juven Traffic courts in America today this morning your honor the first William William Whit bik last Friday on around 4:00 William Whitmore you've heard the charge do you want to plead guilty or not guilty guilty your honor it is my duty then to sentence you you better leave your bike around the courthouse here all next week on Thursday the telegraph Messengers are going to have a safety meeting at the central YMCA you go there and then write a composition on the safe writing rules The Messengers talk about and now before giving the prize money to those fellows who did the best job of riding last quarter I want to talk about the four rules of safe bike riding that you're going to be judged on the coming 3 months I'd like every one of you to be 100% on these four the first of these four rules is ride alone two on a bicycle is one too many look here boys when you ride another fellow on the handlebars or crossbar this is what happens the shoulders and head of the boy on the crossbar shut off the view of the road ahead as if you had pulled down a black window shade furthermore because of this other fellow on the crossbar you've got to spread your knees way up and that brings the sides of your feet on the pedals when you ride alone you ride safely you can see clearly ah head your feet are flat on the pedals you don't have the job of balancing the other boy so rule number one is ride alone safety rule number two The Pedestrian has the right of way always in some places bicycles are not allowed on the street they must use the sidewalk and in other places bicycles are ruled off the sidewalk they must use the street so you fellas will have to learn the local regulations and above everything else remember that The Pedestrian has the right of way and now for number three to say it in Saturday afternoon English use your own power don't hitch when you hitch a ride you're really riding blind you're depending on that fellow who's doing the driving to keep going in a straight line but sometimes the driver stops suddenly or turns sharply when you use your own power and keep both your hands on the handlebars you have complete control of the bike when you've got the bike under control you're safe our fourth rule is based on traffic signs everyone knows what ST p spells stop means just what it says nothing less it's not enough to almost stop at stop streets you must actually stop you're safe only when you obey the traffic signs all of them just as stop means stop slow means slow the signs are put up there for your protection as well as for the SCH school kids so fellows in the next 3 months let's have three no accident months these bicycle writers have made some fine safety records under all conditions they have written safely and Bill Whitmore has learned from them the juvenile traffic court has helped safety Mary Louise you rode a bike that wasn't in good repair over on Orchard Avenue last Monday your bike upset and knocked down another girl on a bike bicycle the reason was that the hand grip was loose and when it came off you lost control of the bicycle have you anything to say Mary Lou guilty or not guilty I'm guilty all right your honor I'll have to ask you to leave your bike here at the courthouse for a week then there's a rent a bike man out here at the park recommends you see I was sentenced because my bicycle wasn't in good condition and so I wasn't a safe Rider our traffic Court wants everybody to ride safely the court sounds like a good idea to me nowadays with just about every