So the police will be handing out free cycle lights at an event to be staged in Cluny Square, Southend on Saturday, January 13, to help children stay safer on their bikes during the dark evenings?

Is it not the responsibility of their parents to provide kids with lights, if they have any sense?

I cannot believe anyone would so carelessly risk their lives, riding around on our busy roads (that's when they are not riding illegally on pavements) for the sake of saving a few pounds on making themselves visible to drivers.

Perhaps, if the police could be bothered to get out of their cars and fine a few drivers for being so thoughtless to the rest of us road users, it might help them to see sense.

A couple of weeks ago, while parked at traffic lights on the Chalkwell stretch of the A13, a cyclist sped past the line of waiting cars, through the red light and was almost knocked off his bike by traffic coming up Westbourne Grove. How he wasn't killed, God only knows.

The strangest thing was that he had paid out good money for a safety helmet - but had no lights on his bike. This prompted most of the motorists there to wonder if he actually had a brain worth protecting under the helmet!

If cyclists have a death-wish, so be it. Personally, I would rather they didn't try to commit suicide in front of my car, thank you.

B Marshall
St Georges Park Avenue
Westcliff