Q How can Hong Kong be turned into a cycling-friendly city? Being a Melburnian who has clocked up more than 20,000km of cycling around Melbourne and Sydney, I know what constitutes a good cycling track. Melbourne, compared to Hong Kong, is a delight for cyclists. It's possible to ride more than 30km on some tracks without having to dismount once. When I moved to Hong Kong, I brought my bike. Here in Hong Kong, I lower and shake my head in dismay when I ponder the state of most cycling tracks. They are a cyclist's nightmare. Bollards. Gutters. 100 metre-long sections of track with 'dismount and walk' signs at either end. Pedestrian seats and signs installed in the middle of cycling lanes. Track closures with no alternative routes. Cyclists who ride three-abreast on the cycle lane, and most annoyingly the absolute lack of ability of people to distinguish between bike track and footpath. I can't fail to mention the bridge on a main bike track in Siu Hong that has a lift and stairs at either end, yet no ramp. One can't even take a bike on a train in off-peak hours without dismantling it. If there's one issue that needs to be sorted out before anything positive can be done, it's education - both of users of cycle tracks, and those who design and implement them. To me, it seems that those people who are involved in 'urban planning' have never ridden a bike. Only when cycle-friendly facilities and policies are in place can cycling in Hong Kong be pushed as a serious alternative to existing transport means. But there's no real benefit for the government to do anything serious about cycling in the first place, so I doubt that it'll ever happen. Christopher Scholten, Tin Shui Wai I just cannot agree with Yan Kinn-wai's view on May 24 about turning Hong Kong into a cycling-friendly city. Mr Yan, let's face it. This is Hong Kong. You reminded me of some spoiled kids in a toy shop. Crying and swearing at their mums asking why they cannot have every toy in the shop. Son, there are nice cycling routes built for safe cycling in Sha Tin and Tai Po. Of course, you can ask for a racing track for cyclists merely to enjoy speeding through the city. But this is Hong Kong. We hardly have the roads to carry the present busy traffic. Drivers need to go through written and driving tests to drive on roads. Yet, not all of them can drive safely. What qualifications do cyclists have? Mark Williams Q Should the penalties for drink-driving be tougher? Not only should the penalty be increased, the drunk's friends should be made responsible. Why do they allow a drunk to drive? I would not get into a drunk's car, but I would not let him drive either. Unfortunately, our government only concentrates on talking about an accident's impact on its victims. The government should encourage peer pressure to stop drink-drivers from getting into their cars. Kwok Ka-yu, Tsuen Wan Not many drivers take drink-driving seriously because they do not pay enough attention to the potential danger. They think they can drive when sightly drunk, and probably get away with it by concealing their drink-driving behaviour - until luck runs out. Probably hundreds of accidents could be avoided if people didn't drink before they drive, sparing serious injuries and death to innocent people. Tougher penalties can not only 'educate' drivers to stop drink-driving but also emphasise the serious nature of the offence. Grace Ho, Tsuen Wan On other matters... This is in response to the letter in Wednesday's Talkback in which the writer criticised a ferry company's decision to operate despite having only two paying customers on board. I'd like to remind the writer that not everything is measured in dollars, pounds or renminbi. In the hectic hurly-burly everyday life that typifies Hong Kong, acts such as opening the door for others, offering one's seat to those in need and even saying a simple 'thank you' are worth their weight in gold. It's a sad reflection of what we've become if everything is measured in monetary terms. Needless to say, the two passengers involved will always remember the day they had their own private cruise. I'm sure they even said 'thank you' to the crew. Jon Yau, Tai Po I refer to the Talkback letter in your newspaper on May 18, regarding thunderstorm warnings. I would like to point out that there exists no regulation per se that swimming pools must close if a thunderstorm warning has been issued. The actual weather conditions should be taken into account and common sense should be applied. To facilitate decision-making by swimming pool operators, and others engaged in outdoor activities, the Observatory makes available a variety of weather information on its website ( http://www.weather.gov.hk/wxinfo/llis/index.htm ) and personal digital assistant website ( http://pda.hko.gov.hk/llise.htm ). This includes mapping the areas where lightning is active. The locations of lightning strikes are displayed every five minutes and the movement of thunderstorms can be monitored through animations of these strikes. The Observatory has worked with property management companies to promote more flexible response actions to thunderstorm warnings. We hope swimming pool operators will be able to make better use of the information they receive. Hilda Lam, for the director of the Hong Kong Observatory
