Madam, – David Smith (April 24th) believes that the bicycle is essentially a toy. How very typical of the Irish motorist mentality that a clean, carbon-neutral, fast and healthy mode of transport that causes no damage to roads and contributes little to traffic congestion should be shunted off the road for a dangerous, uneconomic, polluting, oversized lump of metal powered by an antiquated late Victorian technology.
I drive a car and also cycle and am aware that poor behaviour by both motorists and cyclists causes great annoyance. However, a cyclist usually hurts only themselves when they are involved in an accident with a motorist, regardless of who causes it, whereas I’ve never heard of a motorist being injured by a cyclist.
This is the reason motorists need to be much more aware of other road users whether they are in the right or not. When one is cocooned in a giant metal box weighing over a tonne that can be accelerated to a murderous 30 miles an hour in seconds with the slightest twitch of the ankle, the burden of responsibility weighs much more heavily on the shoulders of the motorist.
Mr Smith also implies that paying road tax somehow entitles motorists to exclusive use of the road. The average of 350 deaths on our roads per annum has been estimated to cost the State hundreds of millions every year. I don’t think the annual road tax take is quite going to cover that bill. – Yours, etc,