ONE or two writers whom I believe weren't around at the time, have recently repeated the myth that the "Black Friday" gridlock in 1995 was caused by a "Critical Mass" of sixty cyclist passing through Lancaster.

The fact is that the police specifically exonerated the cyclists and said that the jam, which had been accumulating long before they took to the road had been caused by a back up at the motorway junction. It was, after all, rush hour on the Friday of a half term week. As a cyclist I am frequently held up by large masses of motor vehicles. At rush hours, on Fridays in particular they positively conspire to create a "Critical Mass" through which at times not even a cyclist can pass. I don't remember any police enquiries. If I decide to band together with a few other cyclists for my own safety and ride in a group around the system I am blamed for causing a jam.

Let me remind drivers: cyclists don't cause traffic jams, cars do. If it weren't for those of us who cycle instead of drive, the traffic system would already be gridlocked. Every cyclist is one less car.

Another recently repeated myth is that cyclists don't pay for the roads. Well I do. Every year my council rate demand includes a substantial sum for highways. Recently, some consultants did the sums and concluded that the cost paid by society for motor travel, including the most easily countable items like health services, crash repairs, road safety, pollution, loss of working time lost in traffic jams and so on, was at least double and probably triple the yield of all the taxes on motoring put together.

The Government could actually pay me £1,000 a year to cycle instead of driving and still make a profit. But I won't claim it - I'll cycle for nothing because it's quicker and cheaper and more pleasant than driver round town. But I sometimes wish I didn't have to pay quite so many rates and taxes to support other people's caraholic lifestyles.

Robert Poole

Dynamo chairman

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.