Kevin Bence (Letters, February 6) may have missed the point of my letter regarding cyclists on pavements.

He seems to imply I might be living in the past and am not fully aware of the risks involved in today's cycling.

I did not say cycling on the roads was safe, only that people ought to abide by the law and when on the roads should look after their own and other people's safety.

I am quite capable of completing a risk assessment of safe cycling because I am a health and safety consultant. Such a risk assessment would say people should cycle on the pavement, although it would produce a higher risk exposure for pedestrians!

I am a member of the Institute of the Motor Industry and work within it as well as other industries.

This includes heavy transport so I am fully aware, thank you, of the changes in the vehicles and type of vehicles per mile of our roads.

As a coastguard, I have to drive a 4x4 vehicle under blue-light conditions so am fully aware of the hazards of other drivers and cyclists on the road. So, Mr Bence, I am not living in the past.

My cycling in London and elsewhere in heavy traffic has not been in the past but the present, where defensive cycling tactics are required to survive. This includes abiding by the law and not putting oneself at risk by dangerous riding habits.

I was only pointing out that cycling on the pavements, being without lights at night and so on is against the law and the law should be upheld.

Until such times as pressure groups and common sense prevail in changing the law and safer cycling environments are provided, cyclists should comply with legislation for their own and others' sakes.

Alienating pedestrians and other road users will not advance the cause

-David Churchill, St Andrew's Road, Portslade