DR Davis of Cockermouth betrays a great number of misunderstandings about the aims and policies of City of York Council (Letters, August 4).

To claim that the residents of Clifton Dale are unwittingly to be made guinea pigs of a Home Zone scheme contradicts the 93 per cent resident vote in favour of the project.

Such solid support is not surprising given that the residents actually designed the scheme. This will be the case for all the council's Home Zone schemes.

Nor is a Home Zone a pedestrianised residential area.Vehicles will not be excluded, but rather their drivers will be expected to behave in a manner which does not threaten the residents who wish to socialise in the street.

In July the council published its Child Road Safety Audit policy to improve "all factors within the road environment" to increase child safety. Home Zones are just one measure to change the culture of road use to achieve this end.

York is widely recognised as leading the UK in creating a safer road environment for its most vulnerable road users. New initiatives such as Home Zones show the council is not complacent in seeking further road safety gains. What is more, all road users have benefited from these policies, with a 40 per cent reduction in reported casualties in urban York achieved in little over ten years.

York also leads the UK in road safety training for children. Nearly 90 per cent of primary school children receive on-road pedestrian training, more than double the proportion in any other local authority. More than 50 per cent receive basic cyclist training, with a target to increase this to 75 per cent by 2006. A further 50 per cent are targeted to receive advanced cyclist training in secondary school by the same date.

Ken Spence,

Road Safety Officer,

City of York Council,

St Leonard's Place, York.

Updated: 10:15 Wednesday, August 08, 2001