ANYONE who has had to drive across the junction of Cavendish and Beechey Roads with Lansdowne Road will know at once how difficult this can be.

Many is the time that the adjacent pedestrian crossing lights turning to red are one’s only hope of crossing Lansdowne Road.

Having waited for a while to cross from Cavendish into Beechey Road recently, when my opportunity finally came, and just about to pull away, a young male cyclist came hurtling across from my left on the pavement and almost collided with the front of my car.

He was plugged into his MP3 player, and made no attempt whatsoever to try and avoid me, and simply carried on at speed along the next section of the Lansdowne Road pavement. My immediate reaction, apart from slamming on my brakes of course, was to register my displeasure with the car horn. I’m sure that readers can guess his gesture in response.

This habit of what I call ‘contra-flow’ cycling on the opposite pavement, i.e. wrong side of the road, is potentially very dangerous, completely selfish and shows no respect or consideration for fellow road users.

Pavements are exclusively for pedestrians.

Acres of road in this country are now increasingly turning ‘green’ as we spend millions of pounds trying to help cyclists cope with our escalating traffic problems and travel more safely.

And who uses them? Rarely the cyclists for whom they are intended.

DANIEL CAMPBELL, Ascham Road, Bournemouth