I RISK venturing into dangerous waters having a pop at cyclists but Chris Lee’s letter last week certainly struck a chord with me.

He was complaining about cyclists riding two or three abreast on the roads around the town and failing to make good use of the cycleways.

He’s not the only one to experience this and those who choose to cycle this way surely put themselves in danger – cyclists are, after all, quite vulnerable.

But it’s actually not illegal to ride two abreast on the road. The Highway Code states that you can do this except where a bicycle lane is in operation and there is insufficient room for two riders to ride abreast on it.

But it also states that it is important for cyclists to consider other road users and not hog the road. Of course, this works both ways.

Chris says he’s sometimes seen cyclists three abreast, which of course then makes them quite an obstacle to get around. driving I always try to give cyclists plenty of room.

But I’m a firm believer that just like motorists, cyclists have a responsibility to obey the rules of the road. A red light means stop – it isn’t a signal to ride through it or mount the pavement to avoid it.

And there are more cycling lanes than ever before – not enough I’m sure if you are a regular cyclist but most towns and cities are trying to encourage cycling and shifting us from our cars to more environmentally-friendly transport.

Chris also mentions seeing a cyclist almost run over a pedestrian in Golden Square and I’m certain that they are banned there. But there does seem to be a certain hard core who act as though rules don’t apply to them and it’s those people who give cyclists a bad name.

It irritates me when you are walking along a pavement and a cyclist comes from behind and rings a bell for you to move out of the way. No, if you must cycle on pavements, then you give way to pedestrians, not the other way round.

A few years ago a cyclist who knocked down and killed an 82- year-old woman when he rode on a pavement was sent to prison for a year.

‘Dangerous cycling’ carries a maximum £2,500 fine and ‘wanton and furious cycling’ could get you a maximum of two years in prison. And these penalties don’t require a death to have happened.

But in reality, these maximum penalties are rarely applied.

But while pedestrian fatalities involving cyclists on pavements are rare, cycling deaths in 2012 hit a five-year high with 122 cyclists killed on our roads.

The vast majority were daily commuters or young children out for a ride on their bikes when they were killed.

So all the more reason why each of us – cyclists and motorists – need to be considerate to one other.