Any trend towards low pollution must be encouraged in every possible way. It is therefore very disappointing when car drivers write indignant, negative letters about bicycles and cyclists when they clearly know so little on the subject (Vehicles Small And Large, Peter Montebello, June 7).

The facts are these: Fitting a small electric motor (or a miniature 25cc gasoline engine) to a bicycle does not convert it into a high performance turbo-charged Harley Davidson motorcycle. Motorised bicycles are barely faster on the level than a normal bicycle. The one advantage of a motorised bicycle is that it takes the workout of climbing hills and so allows the cyclist to continue uphill without slowing down too much.

A cyclist only travels at relatively high speeds when coasting down a hill - much faster than a motorised bike - otherwise an average cyclist rarely exceeds about 10-15 mph on the level, motorised or not. Only professional and sports cyclists maintain quite high speeds - faster than an electric bicycle can do.

So what's all the fuss about? We have lived with unlicensed and uninsured bicycles for well over 100 years with no complications. Adding a little motor to a bicycle has not altered the situation. A motorised bicycle is no more dangerous than an ordinary bicycle but it can move its rider about 1,000 times more fuel-efficiently than a car (but very slowly without additional pedalling) so that it can be considered as a virtually non-polluting form of transport.

The demand by correspondents that electric bicycles should pay a road licence fee is retrogressive.

Any form of, low- or zero-carbon transport such as electric cars, scooters or bicycles should be encouraged by not subjecting them to road or other taxes. In the case of insurance, the only basis for this would be for the cyclist's own protection. Whereas cars frequently kill cyclists or pedestrians, such occurrences are so infinitely rare with cyclists that the risk is virtually non-existent.

So, Mr Montebello, please do your bit. Get yourself a bicycle, motorised or otherwise, and help reduce our traffic pollution by leaving your car at home.