TWO of your recent letter writers were right to point out that, for the sake of self preservation, cyclists should use lights after dark.

Most intelligent cyclists would agree it increases the chances of staying alive. But both letters seemed to imply that children, particularly newspaper boys and girls, have only themselves to blame if a vehicle hits them. That is wrong. Pedestrians crossing the road don't wear lights either, but a driver who collided with someone on foot wouldn't dare to suggest that they had it coming to them because they weren't showing lights.

Or what about an animal, or any other object in the road? cars and lorries, unlike cycles, are equipped with powerful headlights and if drivers don't see unlit cyclists in time, it's the driver's fault.

They are driving too fast to react to what their lights pick out. It's as simple as that. Remember, too, that car lights are free. It's a safe bet that most cars would be driven around with no lights if the drivers had to buy expensive dry batteries almost every trip.

Frank Wood

Bury Road

Tottington

Bury