‘Bicycles can no longer be dismissed as mere toys’

• THE main obstacle to the challenge of applying number plates to bicycles is the need for such a new culture to be taken seriously.

Yet those who laugh at it seem unopposed to number plates on motorbikes, even though these are just inches wider than bikes.

One answer is for the number plates to be displayed vertically rather than horizontally.

Another is for cyclists to be legally required to wear identifying fluorescent sashes around their bodies or arms. After all, everyone must now don a seat belt when getting into a car.

Bicycles can no longer be dismissed as mere toys. We now know that they can kill, injure, or frighten vulnerable pedestrians, even if that was never the cyclist’s intention.

And some cyclists can be so scary when they ride wearing headphones or staring into their mobiles.

Thus the only realistic solution to the problem of criminal or anti-social cycling is for all bikes to carry number plates.

Cyclists tempted to such offending would become much more considerate if they knew they could be traced and prosecuted.

ANTONY PORTER, W9