Wording of this Handout:
DID YOU KNOW:
When the first penny-farthings (bicycles) were seen on the road, in 1876, people mocked the riders and threw insults at them. A coachman in Britain, in the same year, was fined for whipping a cyclist who was overtaking him. The guard on the coach was also fined because he hurled a iron ball on the end of a rope into the bicycle's spokes. The rider fell off!
The bicycle was allowed legally on the roads in 1888 when Parliament passed an Act which classified the bicycle as "a carriage", but every bike had to be fitted with a bell which had to be run non-stop while the rider was pedaling. Thankfully, this law was abolished in 1930.