Madam,

As a family we ride to school everyday for the exercise, enjoyment and to do our little bit to reduce the traffic chaos of Aberystwyth. Unfortunately the fun soon goes out of it when we have to endure the impatient, rude and aggressive drivers that we have to share the roads with every day.

Within the last six months of my children aged nine and five attending Plascrug School and only having do the short ride from Llanbadarn Fawr, we have experienced many very scary situations.

Vehicles overtake where there is not enough room, leaving little space between the car and our handlebars, giving us no option but to move dangerously close to the kerb and on to the potholes/drains. Cars regularly pull out in front of us and turn without signalling.

It deeply saddened me last week when we saw a friend’s child get hit by a car, at the bottom of Primrose Hill, which is why I’m writing this letter. This section of the road bottlenecks on the corner and as a pedestrian or a cyclist it’s very tricky to navigate.

At this rate of incidences that we have experienced in the last six months, my kids may not make it to high school without a visit to the hospital or worse the morgue due to a car incident. A very real and scary thought.

There really needs to be a change in attitudes towards cycling, especially around school times.It’s crazy but many of these incidents have been caused by parents with their own children on board on their own school runs.

All I ask of my fellow car drivers is to be a little patient when approaching a bicycle. If 30 seconds to a minute is added to your com-mute time because of a cyclist, please don’t get impatient, angry and frustrated at them. We’re only trying to do the same thing as yourself. Just take credit that you have shown us a little respect and that we are very grateful for it, thank you.

Just around the corner there may be traffic lights or an incident that could add more time to your journey – life is like that. Being late for work/school is not a fair reason to endanger our lives.

As car drivers it should be our duty to be respectful to all other road users, ie bicycles, horses, runners, walkers etc.

Being a great driver is all about consideration and caring for everyone’s safety at all times.We really need more great drivers on our roads.

Yours etc

Reuben Hayward

Primrose Hill

Llanbadarn Fawr

Aberystwyth.