OVER the years, reading about accidents involving cyclists, nearly all of them have been hit from behind or from the side by vehicles turning left without seeing them.

Both of this type of accident have been because the cyclist didn't see what was about to happen.

The latter happened to a friend of mine many years ago on the railway bridge at Southampton Airport when he was knocked off his bike and crushed by HGV lorry.

There were two reasons for this - one the lorry driver didn't see him and two my friend didn't see the lorry closing in on him.

Had he been facing the traffic on the other side of the road this would not have happened obviously, but my point is that if he had been facing the lorry in a similar situation he very probably would have taken some avoiding action because he would be in a dangerous situation.

I wonder how many cyclists (there were two more killed over Christmas) have been hit from behind in cycle lanes.

I was born in the countryside and we were taught that when there was no pavement to always walk facing the traffic so that we could see what was happening and jump out of the way if we needed to.

It seems to me that a lot of cyclists lives could be saved if they could see drunken drivers or out of control vehicles heading for them.

This would give them some chance of avoiding some serious harm seeing as they have zero protection from motor vehicles.

Strange as it may seem, perhaps cyclists should be told to ride facing traffic for their own safety as they are so vulnerable.

Phil Webb