Readers' letters: Time for a fresh look at road restrictions

Cycle lanes installed as a temporary Covid measure! Looks like many are being made permanent despite increase in accidents and cycle lanes hardly used.

Pic Lisa Ferguson 15/05/2020 Braid Road, Edinburgh closed. ONly pedestrians and cyclists may use it COVID 19, CORONA VIRUS - Braid Road with cones out and closed sign, etc.

At around noon on 24 January, there was one cyclist between Fairmilehead and Buckstone shops. Fairly normal for a weekday.Braid Road is still not open despite repeated promises! Sign at north end (Morningside Station) states closed, when council states it is open southbound. Hardly open when you have to go a circuitous, pollution-creating route through Cluny.

Only part of Braid Road is closed, so any strangers going to, say, Braid Hills Hotel, have no idea that access is available!Now a local group is pushing for a cycle crossing from a park (The Hermitage), mostly frequented by walkers. This group appear to have wanted this crossing also in place before the road fully reopened.So when will Braid Road be reopened, if ever?Bus lane to be extended on Comiston Road 24/7. Buses do not run 24/7 and there was no issue prior to Braid Road being closed. Now congestion is a daily occurrence and traffic, to quote a certain councillor, is evaporating.

Yes, evaporating through Comiston and Caiystane, heavily used by children going to Pentland Primary and Firrhill High.

How will deliveries be made? Will residents be able to move house if no parking for removal vans!These measures are objected to by many in south Edinburgh but objections are repeatedly ignored.Now we are to have a LEZ despite this being voted against at the council meeting and no evidence of how much pollution will be prevented or if in fact, as has happened in other cities, that pollution increases in the surrounding areas as people bypass the LEZ.However, the real irony is that it appears permission has been granted for a “Drive Through” Starbucks in Edinburgh old town! Within the LEZ!Drive through takeaways, in my experience, caused increased waste (paper cups and plastic lids etc) deposited in the surrounding areas! Hardly environmentally friendly. Also hardly falls in the category of “shop local”.Certainly does not fall into the 20 minute neighbourhood strategy being pushed

Ian Vandepeear, Edinburgh.

Cyclists signage needs improvement

Edinburgh City Council’s current policy of promoting cycling is totally commendable.

Cyclists sometimes have a difficult time in busy streets and designated cycling lanes must promote cycling as both healthy and pollution-free.

However, the indicating signs for these lanes leave much to be desired. The black and white poles marking these lanes were easily seen when first installed, but now some months later they have become so coated with mud and dust as to be almost invisible in fog or poor daylight.

The posts could either be coated with some dirt resistant material or be regularly cleaned to make them more visible to motorists.

Something has to be done to avoid serious accidents in the future.

Sandy Macpherson, Edinburgh.

Herd immunity

In 2020 there was much discussion at the WHO and national governments as to what level of covid immunity among populations would constitute herd immunity.

Fast forward to 6 January 2022 and the UK Health Security Agency published the Covid-19 Vaccine Surveillance Report which states that 98.4 per cent of the UK population has antibodies to Covid. If this is not herd immunity, what is?

Geoff Moore, Alness, Highland.

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