Face masks should be compulsory – government ministers would know that if they lived in the real world

Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

We have road traffic laws, rules and advice, and we have Covid-19 laws, rules and advice.

With cars, personal protection equipment (PPE) amounts to airbags, seat belts, and crumple/impact zones. And, the bigger or more robust the car, the better the protection.

With public transport, PPE amounts to face masks, gloves, and staying two metres apart. But as we’ve seen, (in London especially), there’s little of it.

Those who can afford to will undoubtedly travel by car but on public transport, there’s a huge amount of fear, especially for those in vulnerable categories, eg the Bame community.

The prime minister may urge people without the option of driving to ”walk or cycle”, but a 2018 Department for Transport survey found that in England, “over 60 per cent of adults agreed that it was too dangerous for them to cycle on the road”.

Further, other figures show: “You are 15 times more likely to be killed on Britain’s roads if you ride a bike than if you drive a car.”

If a driver doesn’t wear a seat belt only they can be injured or killed, yet the penalty for not wearing one is a fine or penalty points.

By not wearing a face mask on public transport, it can potentially injure anyone the “rule breaker” gets too close to.

If the government was keen to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 as well as the anxiety and fear it has caused, not to mention issues of domestic violence, then it would surely make it compulsory to wear a face mask on public transport.

As for protecting cyclists, drivers should pass them with a minimum distance of 1.5 metres at speeds under 30mph, two metres at speeds over 30mph, and take extra care when overtaking in bad weather.

The cost of Covid-19 will likely mean tax increases and no doubt a great deal of tax avoidance. All the more reason not to avoid our duty to protect the most vulnerable.

Allan Ramsay
Radcliffe

Teachers are essential workers too

From the date of the lockdown a number of teachers have been attending schools to look after essential workers’ children and also vulnerable children.

There has been much emphasis on social distancing by the children, but there appears to be no provision to protect the teachers with any sort of PPE.

Teachers are essential workers. Why aren’t they treated as such?

Geraldine Lofting
Bath

Brexit and coronavirus

I read John Rentoul’s column (What is going on with Brexit during the coronavirus crisis?) and had to remind myself of what that somewhat anachronistic term actually meant, as it all seems so last year.

I cannot personally understand the government’s consistent rationale that they will not ask for an extension to the transition period or accept one if it is offered.

Surely as we survey the wreckage of the economy, this would be the most pragmatic and sane course of action, as a viable trade deal with the EU is now looking increasingly unlikely. This public health crisis has indeed decimated all the energy from meaningful and productive negotiations.

Still, I am rather surprised by Keir Starmer’s refusal to back an extension. But then he is a wily politician and probably surmises that Johnson and the government’s gung-ho attitude should be left to its own devices without any influence from Labour. It’s an OK strategy but this country is lurching closer and closer to this denouement, which would about finish this dire year off completely.

Judith A Daniels
Great Yarmouth

Nothing to worry about

It is difficult to understand why economists and business leaders are worried about the effect of the pandemic on the economy. After all, we have just heard from government sources that there will be a bounce back to the economy which apparently is on a V-shaped curve.

Couple that with us becoming a global power after Brexit in 2021, trading around the world with all those countries we were forbidden from trading with before and whose economies presumably will have also bounced back. What’s there to worry about when we have such a competent, honest, forward-looking group of experts running the country?

G Forward
Stirling

Cycling instructors have been overlooked

I am one of London’s many freelance cycle instructors no longer working due to the current crisis.

I really welcome the fact that more road space is being given to pedestrians and cyclists. I’m also delighted that so many more people are cycling to work.

However, the speed of motorised traffic is going up alarmingly on many roads. And so many people would like to cycle instead of using public transport but need support before they will venture out on the roads for the first time.

Cycling instructors can support key workers and other riders to travel around London, by giving them skills to cycle safely and confidently.

We can cycle with commuters and help them plan a good route; we can fix bikes and give advice on all things cycling; we can teach children safe cycling habits and lead cycle-to-school group rides when schools return; we can help make sustainable travel thrive in post-lockdown London.

Currently, TfL has no budget for this and hasn’t mentioned cycle training in any dispatches. Before Covid-19 any adult who lived in London could get free one-to-one cycle training.

My colleagues and I are totally baffled that the government and the mayor are telling everyone to cycle but offering the public scant support. We call on the government to get cycle training back on the streets ASAP.

Will Embliss
Address supplied