Jim Wightman of the Bicycle Advocacy Group is again asking “…for new laws that would hold drivers automatically responsible for accidents involving bicycle users or pedestrians unless they can prove their innocence”.

This renewed campaign to target people simply because they drive a motor car shall only serve to encourage cyclists not to use our roads responsibly.

I have written in the Times of Malta many times in the past, highlighting the unavoidable dangers of cycling on ourmajor roads. May I kindly remind Wightman, who often refers to the Netherlands in his statements, that “the number of traffic deaths in the Netherlands in 2010 stood at 640, and 162 of these (a staggering 25 per cent of road deaths) were cyclists”.

His attempts to point his finger at motorists are not based on fact, since the serious injury rate for cyclists is actually higher when the accident does not involve a car.

It is high time for Wightman to actively promote basic safety measures, including enforcing the use of a helmet, looking over one’s shoulder and signalling before changing direction, using cycling lanes and secondary roads rather than major roads, not riding side-by-side and not overtaking motor vehicles on the inside.

The comments against the police and the law courts in last Saturday’s report are nothing short of appalling. I believe that an apology is now in order.