Allen Heartland in his letter ‘Cyclists and Motorists’ (January 12) suggests that all cyclists should be forced to take some form of driving test before being allowed on the public roads. 

In a pop survey of the members of the Bicycling Advocacy Group, we discovered that just over 95 per cent of our members did actually hold some form of driving licence.

More importantly, in the last few accidents involving people on bicycles being hit by cars and trucks, all of the car and truck drivers appeared to have been in possession of some form of driving licence too. But that didn’t seem to help much.

The current driving test seems to include something about cyclists in the theory part, but that message only gets across to the small portion of new drivers. There doesn’t seem to be anything to educate existing drivers about the important information conveyed to new drivers in the theory test.

As for people on bicycles, under Maltese law children of 12 years of age and over are not allowed on the pavement and therefore have to ride on the road by law. Are these the missing five per cent? 

We believe that cycling should be a life skill, much like swimming, and that as many Maltese do not know how to ride a bicycle this is unlikely to be a skill that can be passed down by most parents – it should be something taught in schools. 

This also prepares them for essential road skills in later life in larger, more dangerous vehicles. 

I would therefore join the correspondent in demanding that the Education Minister include cycling in the national curriculum for all children aged 11.