AS a cyclist myself, I could not disagree more with Mike Chalkley ("Motor vehicles are the danger", Letters, Daily Echo, August 3) who took exception to the inclusion of a picture of a cyclist using a hand held mobile among the gallery of motorists using hand held mobiles in Tuesday's edition.

Mr Chalkley does not say whether or not he is a cyclist himself - but from the tone of his letter I assume so.

He claims that cyclists were deliberately not included in recent law changes because they do not present a danger to others.

The vast majority of motorists do not present a danger to others - does that mean that we should not have laws designed to protect the rest of us from those who do?

Hardly a day goes by that one does not see cyclists sailing through red lights, ignoring 'no cycling' signs, performing 'wheelies' while in traffic and using mobile phones.

There is one particular two-wheeled scofflaw I regularly observe on Poole Road, pedalling along in traffic, wires plugged into his ears and both hands occupied with his mobile phone - instead of controlling his bike!

There is no way he can be aware of other vehicles and most definitely, poses a significant danger to other road users.

Anyone using our roads must obey the rules and use common sense ( a commodity that seems to be in increasingly short supply these days) and should face severe penalties if they do not.

Cyclists do not have a 'privileged' status and it is high time the law regarding the use of mobile phones while on the move was extended to all road users - including, I might add, jay-walking pedestrians who are too stupid to desist from using their mobiles while they cross a busy road.

In Poole on Tuesday, I was horrified to see a man with two little boys (I would guess between four and six years of age) step into the road, texting all the while as he crossed - with the children tagging some distance behind and still in the road after he had reached the other side!

Mike Chalkley could not be more wrong.

ROBERT READMAN

Norwich Avenue West, Bournemouth