Cycling city? Prepare for gridlock

Your front page exclusive: 'Get on your bike and spend cash' (Evening Post 27th Oct) confirms my opinion that Bristol City Council (BCC) is back-pedalling in its efforts to spend some £22.8 million to improve Bristol's cycling infrastructure.

Indeed, my own cycling activities within the inner-city environs show little evidence of any real commitment to improving either road safety or parking facilities for cyclists.

Moreover, despite the Post's campaign to have some traffic lights turned off at notorious road junctions, I fear the sheer volume of mobile status symbols presages total gridlock, as Bristol's vehicular arteries fail to respond to the switch-off treatment.

It may (or may not) interest drivers to know that a simple calculation shows that, if commuting for an hour a day over a lifetime, this computes to well over a year sat fuming in traffic jams. What a waste of time!

Perhaps instead of appointing a traffic supremo (who is doomed to failure) at some £92,000 a year, BCC should have engaged Paul McKenna (hypnotist) to carry out mass hypnosis on Bristol's commuting drivers.

His remit would be to embed in their petroleum-saturated subconscious the reality that the car is robbing them of the freedom it once promised.

Of course, some diehard petrol addicts would not fall under his spell. However, if it worked on half of Bristol's car commuters, the city would benefit from improvements to its air quality.

Not only that but those who had given up their petrol addiction would see improved health, as they exercised their right to join the world of freewheeling cyclists.

Those who remain welded to their slow-mobiles might like to reflect on some encouraging words of H G Wells: "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."

R L Smith, Knowle.