WITH reference to DM Deamer’s letter of(November 20) concerning stupid cyclists, on November 19 at about 5pm I was driving along Coban Lane, the road connecting Shipton to Wigginton, with heavy traffic in both directions.

I was travelling towards Wigginton and saw a cyclist about 30 yards in front of me without lights. In the other direction were a large number of vehicles with dipped driving lights and two of these vehicles’ headlights were faulty and they only sported one light. The light that was working in these circumstances is very bright and it was virtually impossible to see far up the road.

I saw this unlit, darkly-clothed cyclist at the last minute, braked hard and had to swerve into the middle of the road to avoid him.When I was past him, I noticed he did not have front lights either.

All I can say is he is lucky to be alive. With all the traffic on this stretch of road we were lucky not have a major pile-up.

This is a notoriously bad stretch of road with an uneven surface and too narrow for the volume of traffic. I use it regularly. Any local councillors reading this please try and sort out this road. A note to the police – deal with the cars that have faulty headlights.

Ray Theakston, Haxby, York.