Letter: On four wheels or two, road safety will only come with mutual respect
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Your support makes all the difference.Both cycling on pavements, endangering others, and across red lights, endangering oneself, are illegal. Perhaps the time has come when glaring offences should be punished. We appear to accept the non-punishment of motorists for minor traffic offences (which are not as offensive to pedestrians but much more dangerous) because we expect the worst offences to be punished if caught.
As regards the cyclists' counterargument of justification because there are no cycle paths: any cyclist who dares cycle in London, or who has cycled in any city in Germany, Holland or Denmark, will know how inadequate provision for our cyclists is. I have seen various types of cycle route or lane in London, and they are all pretty awful - going from nowhere to nowhere, or goinground the houses (being simply signed routes, without any actual lane), or being simply a painted lane next to the kerb.
Cyclists should keep off pavements and not jump lights, or suffer the consequences. This will not alter the stand-off with taxis or road users in general though, unless there were a proper provision (real paths at the side of the road, with integration into the traffic light system and with rules in the Highway Code).
A J Crabtree
London NW6
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