As a cyclist of 30 years' standing as well as a pedestrian and driver, I can assure any reader that provided you are familiar with the timings and make sure there is no other traffic coming, running red lights can be significantly safer than waiting to join the phalanx of accelerating cars, lorries and motorcycles on green.

Traffic lights are not installed, as your editorial suggests (Oxford Mail, May 24), for the "protection" of cyclists. They exist primarily to help ease congestion by managing the flow of traffic and far from offering protection, traffic light junctions can be one of the most dangerous parts of a cyclist's journey.

To call cyclists who have jumped the lights "idiots", without any attempt to find their motivation or ascertain whether they put themselves or anyone else at risk, is also insulting to the memory of Tsz Fok, whose tragic death a month ago apparently led to the police action in Broad Street.

A study by Transport for London's road safety unit found that women cyclists are more likely to be killed by a turning lorry because they tend to obey red lights and wait at junctions in the driver's blind spot.

It suggests that some cyclists who break the law by slipping through red lights while turning left or proceeding ahead at junctions may be safer by doing so. I don't condone all rule-breaking by cyclists, but if you are genuinely worried about the safety of cyclists and do not want to see a repeat of the accident that killed Mr Fok, don't mindlessly condemn without finding out the facts.

Cyclists face a lot of risks on the road and will nearly always come off worst in an accident.

A simple count of the number of drivers in Oxford who are incapable of understanding what an advanced stop box for cyclists at junctions is there for, shows the extent to which many drivers understand little about the risks to cyclists.

Using commonsense to survive on the road does not always require strictly adhering to the Highway Code. Instead, be pragmatic and live.

MATTHEW LEDBURY Charles Street, Oxford