Letters: Let’s take steps to put the brakes on rogue cyclists

EDINBURGH has a traffic problem, of the council’s own making. That is why I thought TIE was set up, to resolve this.

Do councillors not know acronyms and flooding the place with cyclists will not solve the problem? Edinburgh is, topographically, not conducive to easy and healthy cycling. It is known as the Athens of the North, not Amsterdam.

In all this traffic nonsense, the most vulnerable people are pedestrians. I have lost count of the number of times I or other pavement users have had to quickly scurry out of the way of a determined cyclist, intent on getting from A to B by the shortest route possible, even if it does mean treating pavements, footpaths and roads as their own personal domain; and without even a bell or horn to signal their arrival.

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Drivers are obliged to follow the Highway Code, and most pedestrians are sensible enough not to wander aimlessly around our busy streets.

So let’s have some kind of control over errant cyclists by introducing licences, proficiency tests and liability insurance.

David J Mackenzie, Parkgrove Terrace, Edinburgh

Labour hypocrisy over tram project

NOTHING beats the hypocrisy of Labour over its tram scheme.

Why waste taxpayers’ money on a public inquiry in respect of Richard Jeffrey’s salary when it should just ask Labour Councillor Ian Perry, who sat on the management board of TIE during its incompetent running of the Edinburgh tram project?

Also, Bill Goodall (Letters, March 8) has a short memory if he doesn’t realise that the SNP took a principled decision not to be on the board of TIE as it did not agree with the tram project.

When the SNP suggested a referendum so that Edinburgh residents could have a democratic say on the trams it was outvoted by the Liberal Democrats, Labour and Tory councillors.

The SNP is not afraid of difficult decisions, and the whole point of independence is the people of Scotland can make our own choices and not be dependent on what a Tory government at Westminster says.

Fraser Grant, Warrender Park Road, Edinburgh

War on motorists drives onwards

EDINBURGH’S roads are in an appalling state, in my opinion as part of the “war on motorists” which still continues unabated.

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I would draw your readers’ attention to the city’s Transport 2030 Vision document, where Messrs Mackenzie and Poulton state: “We aim to decrease year on year the percentage of road network that should be considered for maintenance treatment.”

Remember, this is the same team with the same mentality who forced through the tram project.

M Bond, Saughtonhall

Remember who bailed out bank

I WAS disgusted to hear that the Royal Bank of Scotland has announced that it will make more than 200 staff redundant and shift the jobs abroad. Fat cats at RBS have been forced into doing the decent thing and waiving massive bonuses. But they already benefit from generous pay packages that the lower-down workers do not have.

And those in the lower ranks, who don’t have the same perks, will be the ones who are left wondering how to feed the family, heat the home and pay the mortgage for it.

There is one more fundamental fact to consider: RBS is majority owned by the taxpayers.

Given that the Prime Minister also benefits from our largesse, perhaps he would be good enough to suggest to RBS that we would strongly prefer that it funded jobs in our own land rather than elsewhere.

A Barker, Albion Road, Edinburgh