I MUST respond to John Atkin ('Crack down on bikes', Letters, February 9).

The suggestion that we have "a two-wheel-friendly council which doesn't care about pedestrians" does not tally with the council's published policy which places the transport needs of pedestrians above those of cyclists, nor the fact that it has established one of the largest pedestrianised areas anywhere, from which cyclists are excluded.

Also, it is a common fallacy that roads are paid for by motoring taxes.

Motoring taxes don't raise nearly enough money to pay for our roads, which are, in fact, funded from general taxation.

As a payer of income tax, council tax, VAT and, yes, motoring taxes, I do indeed pay for the roads on which I cycle.

I do, though, agree that the police - though not the council's parking officers, Mr Atkin, it's nothing to do with them - should be more vigorous in enforcing traffic laws as they apply to cyclists and motorists.

Has it occurred to Mr Atkin that some of the cyclists he sees on pavements have been terrorised off the roads by motorists who have realised that they can get away with speeding not just regularly, but just about all the time?

Adrian Setter,

Cinder Lane,

Heworth, York.

...HOW many more times must I read the vacuous statement that cyclists do not pay taxes for the roads on which they ride and, by implication, should not be allowed to use them? (Letters, February 8).

Rather than singling out cyclists for prosecution for traffic offences, why don't the police target all road-users committing traffic offences?

A veritable cash-cow would be for the police to actually fine the multitude of drivers who use fog lights at all times in all conditions.

Meanwhile, if one wanted to continue the so-called argument of "no use without taxation", why not have "no representation without taxation" and at a stroke disenfranchise the unemployed, housewives and the retired?

Dr Duncan Campbell,

Albemarle Road, York.

...IN keeping with the spirit of highlighting the heinous criminals infesting our streets by law-breaking cyclists, could we also mention the cars rat-running Coppergate and Piccadilly and the substantial number of vehicles in the pedestrian precinct every day that obviously shouldn't be there, not to mention the army of spaced-out jaywalkers?

Hang the lot of them, I say.

Preferably from rising bollards.

Graham Horne,

Beech Avenue,

Bishopthorpe, York.

...IF Sara Robin (February 10) had read my letter properly she would have seen that I was suggesting that errant cyclists should be prosecuted as well as motorists, not instead of.

She conveniently forgot to quote any figures for cyclists who break the law, possibly there are none available because cyclists rarely get stopped.

Not prosecuting cyclists on the grounds that they cause little mayhem is like telling a burglar you can break into my house as long as you do not steal anything.

I saw a cyclist with a bright yellow fluorescent jacket and helmet, but without lights on his bike.

The jacket was possibly so that pedestrians had a better chance to see him because he was riding on the pavement at the time.

AP Cox,

Heath Close,

Holgate, York.

...I READ with interest the latest correspondence about errant cyclists.

As I am a York resident born and bred, a student at York University and a cyclist I suggest readers should try Rome for a few days!

From the age of 14 it is legal here to ride a 'motorino' - a scooter - and they ignore every possible rule in the book, including using pedestrian crossings, and the traffic police here are armed!

John Shaw,

University of Rome,

and Newborough Street, York.

Updated: 13:10 Tuesday, February 13, 2001