I am not anti-cyclist, just anti-unused lanes
I MUST respond to Phil Rowe’s letter (“Cyclists not the ones to blame for congestion”, Mailbox, March 22) in response to mine (“Will they make pop-up cycle lanes disappear?”, Mailbox, March 20) regarding the city’s Covid pop-up cycle lanes.
He wrongly accuses me of blaming cyclists for the traffic congestion.
My letter stated the cycle lanes are hardly used, so how is that blaming cyclists for the traffic congestion?
I would be less annoyed if there were hundreds of cyclists using the lanes.
I did not blame the cyclists, I am blaming the local authority for victimising thousands of motorists at the expense of a very small number of cyclists who may use these lanes.
It was quite amusing to me that Mr Rowe states that I have a problem that cyclists are able to travel unhindered on their journeys.
Yes - for me to sit in endless traffic and watch the odd random cyclist go by does annoy me.
Remember that motorists pay to use the roads, but cyclists do not pay anything.
He also states motorists are selfish. Are cyclists jumping red lights and riding at speeds on pavements also not selfish?
I do own a bike and I regularly use it and enjoy it, so I am not anticyclist.
My continued annoyance is with mayors, such as Sir Peter Soulsby in Leicester and Sadiq Khan in London.
In the capital some journeys by vehicle that used to take 30 minutes are now taking close to two hours to complete due to the mayor closing roads with planters or reducing traffic lanes on major routes.
Even the taxi drivers are going around in circles trying to find their way around. How is that reducing congestion or pollution?
Martyn Shepherd, Leicester