Martin Preston suggests that pedestrians walking on cycle paths should be issued with fixed penalty notices (Oxford Mail, October 30).

These views, and the way they are worded, indicate a sheep-like acceptance of county council roads policy. As a pedestrian, cyclist, motorist and bus user, in roughly equal measure and, therefore, seeing road life from all four perspectives, I consider it is sheer lunacy to mix cyclists and pedestrians in the same area, separated only by a painted line.

If pedestrians want to cross the road, they have to negotiate two forms of traffic and, while waiting to cross the second, risk being knocked down by the first. The same applies on the other side of the road. This causes great difficulty for the elderly and infirm, and especially for blind people who will not see the lines and rely on their white stick on the edge of kerbs to define the separation between themselves and traffic.

There has evolved, over many hundreds of years, a natural order of right of way on our roads and byways - 1 pedestrians; 2 people on horseback; 3 horse-drawn vehicles; 4 bicycles; 5 motor vehicles. Other than on motorways and railways, where the risk to human life is unacceptably high, I see no reason why that order should not continue.

To do otherwise risks the continued insults and abuse that Mr Preston refers to. Parental and teacher training, from an early age, of these basic rights of way, would also negate the need for all the ugly street furniture - lines, signs, traffic bumps and cameras - that are an eyesore.

So, city council and schools, when are you going to give this basic education to our youngsters and to their parents? Why haven't you done this already?

MICHAEL HEAVEY Oxford Road, Old Marston, Oxford