AN interesting question: which is the more anti-social - allowing your dog to foul the pavement, or riding your cycle on it?

I ask because there are plenty of signs prohibiting the former, but nothing to remind of the illegality of the latter.

Years of invisible or disinterested policing have allowed a whole generation to grow up believing that pavements are for cycles. So much so that the recent ticketing of a pavement cyclist by a brave PCSO was so unusual that it made the local press.

As with drink driving, dog fouling is now socially unacceptable and most dog owners willingly undertake the rather unpleasant task of clearing up after their pets.

Now let’s tackle pavement cycling. I propose that a sign be attached to every lamppost: “Riding your cycle on the pavement is illegal, dangerous, selfish, anti-social and could earn you a �35 penalty ticket.” If that was followed by an occasional blitz of tickets the culprits would soon get the message.

The cost? Well, Cambridgeshire spend about �400,000 a year (yes!) on ‘road safety’ propaganda, such as the self-promoting sponsorship of local radio traffic reports. Fenland could probably manage it for about the cost of the purple paint job on that great white elephant, the ‘mobile gym’.

So I challenge our councillors and police: cut out some of the grandiose and wasteful projects of recent years and start a simple, cheap, well-targeted (and revenue-raising) campaign to improve the safety of pedestrians of all ages.

ANDREW VARNEY

Station Road

March

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