I WRITE in response to your news feature of July 31.

I have nerves of steel - I cycle to work!

This does seem to be one of the fastest methods for me but until much more is done for cyclists in regard to road safety, bike security and changing facilities at the other end, there is really no reason for the car driver to change from the warm cocoon with music.

I look forward to the substantial changes that are promised.

I am sure that some of these changes will occur around the bus station area in town, which is depressing and filled with fumes from both exhausts and cigarettes.

If more of the public used buses, maybe eventually a bus conductor could be reinstated to help elderly or families on board.

This would also make a journey with schoolchildren more pleasant as some can be most abusive and intimidating.

Occasionally I walk/jog to work and, during a two mile stretch between 8.10-8.30am, counted only 12 cars that held more than just the driver - and that is both ways on the A50.

Car sharing may sometimes be an option but there may be implications regarding insurance and accidents.

Many people use their cars and cannot manage without them but if the car can be left at home one day a week, there will be a reduction of traffic.

It is obvious that huge numbers of children are taken to school in a car due to the difference in traffic during the school holidays.

Travelling to work by foot, bike or on a bus can be quite social and it can be quite pleasant seeing everything from a different perspective.

Would it be possible to keep some lorries off some roads? Many should have routes on the motorway and no need to come through towns. Transport by train would also take lorries off major roads.

I sincerely look forward to improvements.

JANICE BLOOD

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.