In answer to Jean Karl Soler’s anti-cycling tirade (Careful on the right!, February 15), cyclists do actually fall under the highway code. They also need to use main roads to get from A to B. For instance a cyclist, cycling to work, and many of us now do, would not be able to do so solely on minor and country roads.

... it is neither safe nor always possible at times to keep left- James C. Wightman, St Julians

The whole point of my argument was if you want cyclists to keep left (out of the way), then you have to make the left part of the roadway safe for them to do so.

Unfortunately Dr Soler seems to think the country is littered with cycle lanes. Unfortunately there are relatively few, poorly maintained and conceived and often more dangerous to use than not. Very few of these actually link up to anywhere useful to commuting cyclists (unless you’re a dolphin trainer living in Buġibba) and more importantly they do little to modify either driver’s behaviour.

Strangely Dr Soler wants higher speeds for cars, yet lower speeds for bikes and expects cyclists (now going slower) not to impede his progress? There is however good news. Interestingly, new research seems to indicate that slow, steadily moving urban traffic is quicker than fast, stop-start urban traffic, much like the tortoise and the hare.

The general proviso of the highway code is “if it is safe to do so”. Clearly navigating the tank traps that inhabit Tower Road, the subject of my letter, may cause the cyclist to have an accident. Equally cyclists now have to move into the carriageway from the hard shoulder, which avoided cyclists getting in the way of traffic, to avoid the crash barriers identified by Dr Soler. So it seems Dr Soler would agree with me that clearly it is neither safe nor always possible at times to keep left.

Yes just like car drivers, there are good and bad cyclists. All of the cyclist transgressions mentioned by Dr Soler, are also carried out by drivers, jumping lights… et al. I’ve even seen cars side by side having a good old chat!

In fact I’m so fed up with the hackneyed red light argument, I now refuse to move off until the lights are fully green (mindful of “left hooking” HGVs of course). You’d be amazed how many drivers jump the gun and go on amber. And there’s the rub. There are far more car drivers doing this, than a small percentage of cyclists.

The truth is that there are 93.16 driver inattention near misses per 1,000km, where on-the-ball cyclists avoid cars or car doors emerging into their path.

This tends to impose upon road-savvy cyclists a wider, more visible position. So the way they ride, good or bad is possibly in response to the way drivers actually drive. Change the behaviour and the infrastructure and you probably won’t need cycle lanes anyway.

In answer to some of Dr Soler’s other queries. Helmets, speedometers, tax and insurance are not legal requirements.

However the latter two are fine so long as both are available and fair. The speed limit for bicycles is the same as any other vehicle and cars require a more powerful braking system because they can attain greater speed and inertia.