|
|
|
Social Impact of BicyclesBicycles are three times as efficient as walking and three to four times as fast. Moreover, in terms of distance and speed travelled compared to energy consumed, the bicycle is the most efficient machine yet created. The widespread availability of bicycles had a major social impact in several ways:
The bicycle helped to strengthen the gene pool for rural workers. It tripled their courting radius on the one day per week they had off and thus was a factor in reducing rural inbreeding. In cities, bicycles helped reduce the crowding in inner-city tenements by allowing workers to commute from single-family dwellings in suburbs. They helped reduce people's dependence on horses. They allowed people to travel in the country. Another major implication of the bicycle was the political organization of bicycle riders and enthusiasts in such groups as the League of American Wheelmen, in order to persuade local and state governments to create a system of well-maintained and mapped paved roads. Both the model of political organization and the roads themselves later facilitated the growth in the use of another type of wheeled vehicle, the automobile.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bicycle" and from http://www.treadly.com
100% FREE IQ Quiz |
|
|
|
|
|
|
page 1 of 24 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
|
