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Drivers break rules

Like Mr Moor (SA September 14) I started cycling some time ago.

I joined the Cyclists Touring Club (now Cycling UK) in the early ‘70s and have been a life member for more than 40 years.

I still frequently ride a bicycle and also drive a car. This gives me the perspective to see both sides of the car/bike debate.

Mr Moor asks if there are no rules for cyclists?

Yes, there are but they are rarely enforced.

He states that car drivers are penalised for disobeying the rules. I would add: “Sometimes.”

1. Last Wednesday (September 13) I saw a car driven straight through a red light in Victoria Road outside the Swindon Advertiser office.

2. On Thursday evening I saw a car being driven the wrong way from King William Street (one-way street).

3. Later on Thursday evening a car was driven the wrong way down Union Street (also one-way).

4. Saturday morning a food delivery motorcycle went the wrong way past my house in Prospect Place.

5. On Saturday afternoon I saw a taxi driven the wrong way up the lower part of Prospect Hill.

6. On Saturday evening I saw a car driver perform an illegal exit from Wood Street.

Six offences, two by professional drivers, in four days.

Two wrongs do not make a right, and I cannot condone breaches of law by cyclists.

However, many motorists, who theoretically risk penalty points and loss of licence, disobey the rules knowing that the chance of getting caught is low.

If cyclists were required to have a licence, they too could be disqualified.

Who is supposed to enforce any new regulations? The police, understandably, concentrate on serious crimes. If Mr Moor cares to read page 5 of the Swindon Advertiser on September 14 – when his letter appeared – he will find crimes described in news stories: assault, theft, theft again and damage combined with harassment through racially aggravated behaviour.

Becky Cox (SA Sept 18) is right; increased cycling could solve many of our transport problems.

We must do everything we can to encourage more people to start or, in the case of Mr Moor, to return to cycling.

WILLIAM POTTS, Prospect Place, Old Town, Swindon

Austerity hits poorest

Well done to the editor of the SA for your Swindon Advertiser comment on September 20 about the senior citizen who had to wait three hours for an ambulance to arrive.

The SA has, over a number of years, printed my letters regarding my opposition to austerity and the consequences of it.

Naturally people have replied in support of austerity and have tried to defend the indefensible.

While doing so, the country as a whole is now seeing the results of it. Not once have our two MPs spoken out against it.

They are both ‘yes men’ and as far as I’m concerned how can they just sit back in Westminster knowing that what they support is causing problems to the town which they say are proud to represent.

Terry Hayward, in a recent letter to the SA, asked an excellent question of the Government – why are we in permanent austerity and why are there still more cuts to come?

Finally, how right the academics David Whyte and Vickie Cooper are to describe austerity as being a calculated programme of state violence against the most vulnerable in our society.

MARK WEBB, Old Town, Swindon

Stop this cruel cull

I HAVE read that the very cruel badger cull has started and has been extended to 11 new areas.

The Badger Trust say more than 30,000 will be killed or injured and die a slow agonising death.

I have seen the recent pictures that show a badger in a trap bleeding to death. I know our two Swindon MPs support this as they do hunting.

I would like to know how many of badgers killed actually had TB? DEFRA says Natural England know and all are tested. I am still trying to contact the helpline set up by Natural England who deal with this.

I wonder how the Government can fund this big operation when they cut everything else.

If Hilary Benn could halt this at the last minute when he was the Environment Secretary, why can’t Michael Gove look into it more?

MRS S GILES, Address supplied

Lights waste cash

I NOTICED recently the lamppost outside my house was twice as bright as it used to be.

I then noticed that a totally new lamppost had been put in. On further investigation I found the EU has required Britain to replace all the lampposts in the country with energy-efficient LED lighting.

It is now in the process of replacing all those perfectly good lampposts that could have easily lasted another100 years simply to comply with EU directives on energy efficiency.

There are eight million lamp posts in Britain. This has got to be the most expensive way to save money that any country has ever implemented.

STEVE HALDEN, Beaufort Green, Swindon

Why new makeover?

I WAS surprised to read in the SA Friday, September 15, that the the area outside the railway station is going to be given a makeover.

It was only a short while ago that it was given a facelift. Shouldn’t the council look at the rest of the town centre before wasting money doing up an area that has already been done?

I thought that last facelift was supposed to do what they are saying the new one will do. So why waste more money?

MRS L TOWNSEND, Redcliffe Street, Swindon