I AGREE with Mr Elliott on one point - that all cyclists should be adequately lit at night.

However, after cycling from Bootham into York city centre and down Huntington Road to Birch Park and back on the day of your reader's letter with adequate front and rear lights and reflective bands on my clothing, I feel that cyclists have much more to complain about than drivers.

At every set of traffic lights on the way queuing drivers blocked the cycle lanes and priority boxes.

I was cut up by cars turning left, brushed against by drivers overtaking me in the path of oncoming vehicles.

I was almost knocked off my bike by three different cars pulling over at the last moment and parking straddling the kerb and road rendering the cycle lane worthless.

I was even forced on to the path on a one-way street by a car going the wrong way.

Cyclists make these "kamikaze" moves because lazy, rude and ignorant drivers park illegally, chase amber traffic lights, block box junctions, don't check wing mirrors before turning or opening doors, nudge out of junctions, accelerate past turning cyclists and generally regard cyclists as irritations.

I commute twice daily and this happens to cyclists every day and every night.

York police seem to be on the side of the drivers - how often is anyone ever prosecuted for any of these illegal moves, many of which must be caught on CCTV?

How about a blitz on basic road rules for all vehicles?

Using the horn to intimidate cyclists (which your reader clearly saw anyway) would simply be another disregard of the law by Yorks errant drivers.

No wonder the traffic is so bad.

S H Ramm,

Newborough Street,

York.

Updated: 10:22 Saturday, December 10, 2005