Well said Tim Ridgway (The Argus, October 1).

I can empathise with a lot of his frustrations and joys of cycling.

He’s quite right to highlight how many people feel it is OK to abuse and threaten cyclists both on and off the road, or to blame them for everything that goes wrong.

In the summer, I had the pleasure of cycling in France. There, motorists are generally much more tolerant and give cyclists plenty of space when overtaking.

The day I got back, I was cycling home from the shops and was overtaken by a van so close I was able to touch it.

Motorists also seem to have a blind spot to all the laws they break in addition to how threatening they can be in the way they drive.

Brighton and Hove City Council’s parking report (The Argus, October 2) highlights just how many were caught breaking parking regulations and driving in bus lanes last year – and the numbers are rising.

Yet despite all this, it would seem cycling is on the increase.

Already an upward trend, with the success at both the Olympics and Tour de France inspiring a new generation to get on their bikes, the city needs to grasp this opportunity.

It needs to invest in a high-quality cycle network on main routes, alongside making all roads feel safer to cycle on without necessarily having to build cycle lanes.

It will be good for people, their health and the economy.

It might help us solve a few environmental problems too.

Chris Todd, Brighton and Hove Friends Of The Earth