Letter: A message to cyclists
I live on a narrow country road much used by cyclists along which I and my neighbours walk our dogs.
Cyclists do not seem to realise that pedestrians walking ahead of them cannot hear them coming from behind especially when a wind is blowing or we elderly people may have defective hearing.
Several of us have suffered verbal abuse when we have inadvertently impeded them. Dogs will be dogs and respond to any movement or sound in a hedge causing them to dash across the road in front of unheard cyclists which could cause painful results for both.
For some inexplicable reason they are no longer required to have a means of audible warning fitted but a quick shout of hello would suffice, as happened to me for the first time recently.
Motorists are also, to a lesser degree, troublesome as modern vehicles are quieter than they used to be and are often not heard in windy conditions.
So please cyclists and drivers, if you see a pedestrian, with or without a dog, walking ahead of you on a narrow country road, give them a shout or a toot of the horn.
Maurice Blakey, Coundmoor
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