When I was a lad, anyone over the age of about ten seen riding a bicycle on the pavement was greeted with the cry “Doesn’t mummy let you ride on the road yet?”

Now, however, the urban myth is perpetuated that it is too dangerous to cycle on the road. Credence is given to this untruth by councils designating random stretches of pavements for shared use by pedestrians and cyclists.

It is no wonder many adults mistakenly believe that the authorities want people to ride their bikes on the pavement.

Riding along the A13 during rush hour, I find it ironic to see ladies of a certain age riding their sit-upand- beg bicycles perfectly competently along the road, while many young men can only ride their roughie-toughie mountain bikes along the pavement, weaving in and out of pedestrians.

The oft repeated plea that “we need dedicated cycle paths” is not the answer. It is impossible to provide a cycle path from everyone’s front door to their desired destination.

Education is needed to bring cyclists back to where they should be, as part of the traffic using the carriageway, as opposed to being “pedestrians with wheels” on pavements.

The initiative of Bikeability, the national training scheme, is welcome, (Nov 4), but it needs to be reinforced by publicising and enforcing penalties for pavement riding and by encouraging cyclists to be trained to ride responsibly.

No one would dream of driving a car or riding a motorcycle on the road without training. Bicycles are also vehicles and proper training for cyclists is equally necessary.

Speaking of education, can we also try to educate certain drivers that they don’t own the road, that they need to learn to share it with others, that indicators are fitted to their vehicles to be used, that mirrors are there for a purpose and that using any mobile phone while driving divides their concentration to the detriment of road safety, both their own and others.

B J Brazier
Warren Chase
Thundersley