I DO everything I can to be safe and seen on my bicycle – riding every day I wear bright colours, use good lights after dark or in bad weather, and my bike is well looked after.

I have made an effort to study the rules and laws, as I think everyone should with regards to the road.

However, today on a 12-mile errand I encountered one or two drivers who thought that I should not be on the road – one lady who held down her horn and gestured towards the pavement, despite it being a quiet, empty road, and another who overtook, blind, before the brow of a railway bridge, nearly having a head-on with another poor driver. Patience is a virtue, especially when your view is blocked.

Then there is the amount of oil and diesel on the roads around Bitterne !

The potholes are bad enough but when a driver just stops dead in the middle of the road for no reason you find yourself sliding towards said driver. Had she stalled I would have understood, but her engine was still running and she began playing around with her glovebox.

You can go for weeks cycling around Southampton without an incident but to suddenly have three in one hour means perhaps it would be prudent for drivers to check their own vehicles for repair (oil), and acquaint themselves with the rules regarding cyclists.

DJ COOK, Southampton.