• READING the editorial Comment, I recall my own close-call collision on my bike with a car near Swiss Cottage gyratory and, thankfully only a broken shoulder to show for it, (Another death: so where is the action that was promised? August 16).

I feel it is in really bad taste to use the tragic deaths of cyclists to champion Transport for London’s claim to this tiny strip of road in Swiss Cottage for the contentious CS11 cycle superhighway. This seems a desperate ploy just as the CS11 hearing approaches.

Of course, cycle safety is paramount; everything should be done to ensure cyclists are protected from motor vehicles. But why are cycle superhighways being heralded as the one and only solution?

TfL should be promoting and continuing to develop London’s well-designed cycle Quietways, investing further in clearer cycle lane markings, better junction signalling and obligatory traffic safety awareness courses.

London’s tram network, Tramlink, was introduced to south London in 2000 but only runs from Wimbledon through Croydon to Beckenham, where it has proven a popular mode of transport. Why not have “super tramways” for the whole capital? It works brilliantly in Edinburgh.

Without improving and reducing the cost of public transport and subsidising low-emission vehicles, polluting private transport will continue to predominate, clog up, and endanger lives everywhere that is not a cycle superhighway.

CLARA WEISS
NW3