I'd have liked to have seen Roads Minister Duncan Gay reduce fines for driving offences, to bring them into line with those for bicycle offences – having first brought the risk of being hit and seriously injured by a driver down into line with the risk of being hit and seriously injured by a bicycle ("Editorial: Gay's new cycling safety package is unbalanced", January 17). That would have demonstrated real progress.

After Victoria increased fines for vulnerable road users in 2010, there was no improvement in road safety. There is nothing to suggest these punitive measures will achieve anything in NSW, except that they are likely to discourage ordinary low-speed/low-risk transport cycling, especially among women. The avid high-speed/high-risk sport riders, the ones that really grind Gay's gears on his three kilometre drive from Redfern to the CBD each day, will not be so easily discouraged.

Illustration: Cathy Wilcox Credit:Cathy Wilcox

Premier Mike Baird's judgement has to be questioned in giving such an important portfolio to this MP.

Chris Standen Transport Research Analyst, The University of Sydney