Kilcoole Road Repairs in 1903

Barry Dock News

Galoots in motor cars and go- boys on bikes!

Thanks to Brian White for submitting this  amusing if somewhat tragic snippet from from the Barry Dock News, a Welsh newspaper from 3 April 1903.

In the Irish Cyclist a strange coincidence is related. In July last, the County surveyor asked for permission to repair the road between Kilcoole and Newcastle. But one member of the rural council strongly opposed the idea, declaring that the road was good enough for farmers, and that they did not want "galoots in motor cars and go-boys on bicycles" in their neighbourhood. So the road went unrepaired. Now comes the news that this same councillor was driving home, when one of the wheels of his vehicle got into one of the ruts of which the surveyor had complained, a spring broke, the horse took fright, and the councillor was thrown out and killed. It almost seems like retribution. One can have nothing but sympathy for the relatives of the unfortunate man, but for whose own fatuous opposition the road might have been safe.