MIKE Chalkley (‘Uninformed on cyclists’, July 25) totally misses the point.

The complaint is against cyclists who cycle on the pavements when there is a cycle lane only a few yards away.

Cyclists are not obliged to use a cycle lane but, in most cases, are not allowed to use the pavements.

One place that cyclists are allowed is the seafront, after 5pm this month and next, but otherwise unrestricted with a speed limit of 10mph.

Unfortunately, this speed limit is very rarely adhered to with a large majority cycling far too fast.

My wife and I spent a recent Friday evening outside a beach hut near Alum Chine.

It was a lovely evening and there were a lot of people around including many families with young children.

Just in front of us, a little girl of about two years was hit by a cyclist and finished up under the bike.

Luckily the girl was not badly hurt but very shaken up and upset (as was her mother).

The cyclist was probably early teens and was carrying two friends on the bike!

Luckily again, he was not travelling very fast but obviously very dangerously.

Had she been hit by one of the many cyclists who treat the seafront like a velodrome, the consequences could have been far more serious. And, once it became dark, very few of the cyclists had lights but continued to cycle at great speed.

Steve Symonds, in his letter of July 22, suggests a new law, but what is the point?

Current laws are not being enforced.

Every day you can see cyclists flouting the law but how many times have you read in the paper of a cyclist being prosecuted? I cannot recall one.

Many cyclists appear to believe that they are above the law and it is about time that the police clamped down on them. Pedestrians, particularly children and old people, are at serious risk until something is done.

BOB HISCOKE, Glenferness Ave, Bournemouth