Be more aware of your surroundings
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YOU CAN IAKE comfort in the fact you produce a goad magazine, however, nearly every week, there is something that gets me hot under the collar, but I don't always put 'pen to paper!
However, in CM's 11 February issue two things have irked me. The first thing was the police officer's comments about trucks parking in lay-bys ('CV cop refuses to retract "lay-byviews').
The facts are straightforward. There are just not enough truck parks, and the costs of using the ones we do have are too high with haulage rates where they are.
When I was an owner-driver, 1 rarely used truckstops because of the cost. An average £20 per night soon turns into £100 a week, which comes straight off the bottom line.
The second issue that concerns me involves HGVs and cyclists (Playing the blame game', CM 11 February).
It has to be wrong if, in the event of an accident involving a cyclist, the motor vehicle driver is automatically assumed to be the guilty party.
I take pride in trying to Ore cyclists plenty of room, even if it means I get stuck behind them for a time while waiting for sufficient time and space to overtake them.
However, I think that cyclists need to take more responsibility, too.
How often do we see them riding the wrong way down a one-way street, riding without any lights front or back, wearing a hi-vis top, but then wearing a backpack that covers hi-vis?
Just last week, I was stopped and waiting to turn right. The traffic coming the other way had passed and I was about to move when a cyclist appeared.
I waited for him to pass, but what did he do? Swept left into the road I was waiting to turn in to without any hand signals.
Needless to say, he did get some hand signals, and I then had to wait until the road was clear enough for me to pass safely. I agree with a lot that London mayor Boris Johnson says, but I think, in this case, he is wrong.
I've never heard of Cycling England before, and was even less amused to see it is funded by the Department for Transport. Is it just another government quango presumably funded out of our taxes?
Vernon Hill Via email