Don’t put brakes on bikes

AS A Cyclist and motorist of 30 years, I can see from both viewpoints, but putting number plates on bicycles (letters) is unrealistic.

Perhaps we should put number plates on the pedestrians who step off the pavement in front of me every day without looking? Or on dogs which run in front of my bike on the canal towpath?

Common sense and consideration are all that is needed, but they seem to be in short supply nowadays.

MARK Cohen, manchester. WHEN I lived in Toronto, Canada, in the Fifties, bicycles ( including children’s) had to be registered and were fitted with a number plate welded to the front wheel spokes.

LIONEL DREW, Banbury, oxon. YOUR correspondent mentions some benefits of cycling but missed out on one of the most important points — that cyclists are not responsible for the carnage that motorists cause on a daily basis.

As I cycle on our congested roads, I am ‘ buzzed” by car drivers and motorcyclists who seem to hate cyclists and wish to do me harm.

Why are so many people against cycling in this country? To introduce another level of bureaucracy in our already over-regulated lives is to discourage cycling and the benefits of this simple mode of transport. STEPHEN BIDDLE, Littleport, Cambs.