Letter: Lawbreakers on the roads

Sir: With reference to Jonathan Youens's comments on cyclists breaking the law (Letters, 6 May), I have been cycling through the Medway Towns for 30 years. In that time the number of sets of traffic lights on a six-mile stretch has multiplied from two to 17 and one-way systems take us on longer, hillier routes than we used to use.

All these changes are for the convenience of the drivers of polluting monsters which directly kill about 3,000 people per year and who knows how many indirectly by their fumes. A new tunnel has just been opened under the River Medway to knock a couple of miles off some journeys. Pedestrians and cyclists are barred from this facility, which is for motor vehicles only.

Can Jonathan Youens really blame me if I sometimes lose patience and jump a red light or cut through the pedestrian precinct to avoid a long detour?

The Rev ROGER KNIGHT

Rochester, Kent