Like the proverbial parson’s egg, parts of Frans Said’s letter of February 12 were acceptable. Few would dispute even exaggerated platitudes as  “…irresponsible drivers are murderers,  a vehicle is lethal as a gun or knife, drivers awarded only minor penalties..”  etc. Of course, some vehicles are more lethal than others.

However, he wrongly claims that the response of January 13 to his original letter ‘Cyclists not all saints’ (January 8) “did not advocate strict road control”.

It was the other way round. The letter (January 13) went so far as advocating the presumed liability law (as in force in the rest of Europe), to which Said took great exception. He even tried to rubbish this law by ignoring the fundamental point that it corrects a grossly unequal situation: in collisions between a motor vehicle and an unprotected road user, it is invariably the vulnerable road user who is injured or killed.

His remaining comments are all based on the outdated segregationist concept that the roadway is for traffic and pavements for pedestrians. Such antiquated attitudes have been displaced by the concept of the urban road as a ‘social space’ or ‘people space’.

In addition to traffic calming measures and the reduction of urban speed limits to 25 km/h or less, urban roads are becoming ‘shared spaces’ where pedestrians have priority over cyclists and motor vehicles.

And the evidence is that this works; road accidents and fatalities are reduced almost to vanishing point and urban roads can be safely used by people of all ages, even on bicycles.  Such modern street design also exerts a positive effect on public health because people find walking and cycling in such roads attractive.

If, as Said maintains,  a quarter of the population are ‘unfit’ for two-wheel travel, then the creation of a healthier road environment is all the more urgent so that people may become healthier.