IT IS believed safer for pedestrians to walk in the road in Okehampton rather than chance their safety by attempting to keep to the p1avement where cyclists seem to consider they have some ?Divine Right? to ride and expect walkers to move aside to ease their passage. On Friday last I was walking along past Red Lion Yard towards the junction of Fore Street and Market Street when, because three people were walking abreast outside the town hall, I moved towards the kerbside. A bicycle came around the corner and actually ended up with his front wheel between my legs. I lifted the handlebars and motioned that the correct place for him was in the road and not on the pavement. The verbal abuse that then came my way was nothing startling in the days that we live, but in my youth would be more akin to the retort of a navvy hitting his hand while working in a trench, having checked that he was not likely to be overheard! Further, these self-same riders seem to take to the pedestrian walkway in order to circumvent the need to obey the traffic lights. The need for a clampdown on this sort of behaviour is very overdue and if the constabulary cannot put personnel ?on the street? to force the law to be obeyed then somebody will take action, and as the campaign by householders to defend themselves against intruders has shown it could be extended to include cyclists. Derek Godfrey-Brown Larkbeare Okehampton
