I TAKE issue with Colin Smith’s view (August 20) that there is such a thing as “road tax”.

This hasn’t existed for decades and the money taken from some car owners is and has been for many years, the vehicle excise duty.

Furthermore, many cyclists, such as myself, are already paying just such a duty but prefer to get around Oxford by bicycle.

The structure of the current system of VED is that it is a graduated tax on the amount of CO2 a vehicle produces so it would be possible for Mr Smith to run a hybrid or electric vehicle and pay no tax at all, just like the cyclists that seem to bother him so much.

I highly recommend that Mr Smith visits some of our northern European neighbours: Belgium, Holland and Denmark where he would see that, apart from much better arrangements for cycle parking in towns, many traffic lights have separate lights for cyclists so that they are not kept waiting with the cars when circumstances permit safe onward movement.

Many of Oxford’s traffic lights could be improved by just such a system but getting those improvements would take serious financial commitment.

While I fully understand why some non-cyclists are annoyed by the antics of a minority of two-wheeled road users, I feel that life and health in Oxford would be immeasurably improved if many more people could be persuaded that cycling was a safe, viable alternative to using a car for most local journeys.

COLIN TASSELL, Temple Road, Temple Cowley, Oxford