To cycle safely around Britain, a bicycle bell is not an optional extra

SIR – I was pleased to see that, on the front page of your Business section (November 24), the pictured special edition of the hybrid electric bike launched by the track cyclist Victoria Pendleton had a bell fitted.

In light of the tragic death of Kim Briggs, a mother of two, reported earlier in the year, and the Prime Minister’s proposal to apply the dangerous driving law to cyclists (report, November 25), perhaps inconsiderate mountain bikers will look to their role model and have bicycle bells fitted permanently. Peter James

Clun, Shropshire

SIR – Cycling organisations are against the mandatory use of cycling helmets because it would give cyclists a “false sense of security”.

I remember exactly the same argument being deployed against the compulsory use of seatbelts in cars all those years ago. Terry Lloyd

Darley Abbey, Derbyshire SIR – The “sense of security” a helmet gives a cyclist is not necessarily “false”.

I’m alive today thanks to the helmet which smashed when I was knocked off my cycle from behind by an unlicensed scooter rider. The only eyewitness told me when I got back from A&E that my head had collided with an iron bollard on the pavement, and that I would surely have been killed without the helmet.

What does give many riders a sense of security, and rightly so, is a handlebar rear-view mirror. I never cycle now without a helmet. The mirror lets me know if a bus or lorry is about to roar past, and I can relax and enjoy the ride when a glance tells me that the road behind is clear and that the only idiot who might kill me is yours truly. Mike Wells

Ickwell, Bedfordshire

SIR – In the Netherlands it is safe to cycle without a helmet, for several reasons.

There are miles of dedicated cycle paths in both towns and rural areas, whereas in Britain provision is poor.

The Dutch do not treat cyclists as social pariahs. Indeed, they are protected by road regulations which give them, and pedestrians, the right of way at junctions. Until there is long-term investment in the provision of safe cycling lanes in Britain, as well as a change in road regulations and in attitudes towards cyclists, compulsory wearing of helmets will not do much to reduce fatal accidents. Charles Coulson

Quarrington, Lincolnshire

SIR – Wearing high-vis clothing should be compulsory – not just for cyclists, but for joggers as well.

While cycling along a country road yesterday morning, I rounded a bend to come up behind a jogger who was on the wrong side of the road. He was dressed entirely in black. Only his white legs gave a clue to his presence and saved us both from a pile-up. Eldon Sandys

Pyrford, Surrey