Respect for law

But cyclists choose to ignore what is already provided and chain their bikes to railings and sign-posts instead.

One example is the area outside the County Library, where there are many cycle racks in Queen Street and on the ramp to the Castle Street underpass.

Instead, railings and corners are used, snagging pedestrians' clothing and impeding exit if a fire were to occur in the library. If these racks are full, cyclists could proceed a few yards into Castle Street, where racks for 21 cycles are seldom used or a few yards more into Old Greyfriars Street, where there are 83 racks, some under cover from the rain, which are almost always empty.

All of these facilities are nearer to Queen Street than the Westgate car park, from which car drivers manage to walk.

The city council places notices on sign-posts enjoining cyclists to use cycle stands, but these are swiftly defaced. Rather than tamely accepting this vandalism, the city ought to persist by affixing multi-coloured notices on metal backs higher up the posts, in the manner of the Alcohol-Free Zone ones. Both cars and cycles can be impounded if unlawfully parked; application should be even-handed. The attitude of everyone in Oxford, individual and corporate, ought to be to engender respect for the law which protects minorities and is impartial.

Instead, too many people encourage their followers, through implication, to think that the law, because it can be perceived to be defective from some viewpoints, can be broken so as to demonstrate that it should be changed to meet their interests.

T. Baker-Jones, Oxford