Sir – Oxford’s newspapers regularly carry articles written by people complaining about cyclists. A minority of all road users behave badly, but people seem to particularly blame cyclists for problems on Oxford’s roads.
However, we are in danger of losing sight of the bigger picture when we focus so particularly on the behaviour of some vulnerable road users. Air pollution has risen again over the past two years, and it was already dangerously high across Oxford. 70 per cent of air pollution is caused by traffic emissions, and the other 30 per cent is from central heating, commerce, and industry. Cancer rates have officially risen again in the UK, and according to the latest statistics 42 per cent of us can expect to get cancer in our lifetime.
The components of air pollution are highly carcinogenic and we all breathe them all the time.
This is one of the reasons the Greens place an emphasis on reducing car dependency, creating jobs in buildings insulation, and cutting unnecessary fossil-fuel based energy waste in shops and industries.
Sushila Dhall, Green Party prospective parliamentary candidate, Oxford East, Oxford
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