• THE claim that non-resident middle class cyclists are somehow skewing representations to Islington Council completely ignores the massive amount of cut-through traffic, (Letters, May 21).

I expect that non-resident drivers who contribute to the 395 million kilometres driven in Islington far outweigh the number of cyclists, and they have a much greater vested interest in removing LTNs.

As for “haves and have-nots”, two out of every three Islington residents are “have-nots” as far as car ownership is concerned, so it is unclear why the writer thinks their wishes are being ignored.

The claim that a vote for Labour in the recent elections was not also a vote to tackle traffic congestion is simply disingenuous.

The council’s transport strategy document is very clear on the direction of travel. LTNs were not explicitly mentioned, but how did people think the council they voted for was going to achieve its stated aims without making changes to the way the roads are used?

The claim that the best way to reduce accidents on main roads is to funnel that traffic on to side roads in the most densely populated and 24th most deprived borough in the UK, side roads where there are no speed cameras and insufficient safe crossing points, is simply a way of sharing the pain, not reducing it.

Fortunately the council is more enlightened and has a set target of zero deaths and serious injuries on roads. Furthermore it is important to recognise that cars cause misery not just due to dangerous driving.

They also contribute 50 per cent of the emissions in Islington’s air pollution, which in turn caused 67 deaths in the borough. LTNs are not the problem, traffic is the problem.

And traffic is made up of individual drivers who all seem to think that they should be treated as the exception.

I wish drivers would see that they can be part of the solution rather than thinking that everyone else is the problem.

ANDREW WILLETT
Highbury Hill, N5