Drivers must become more patient to improve safety

I refer to the page 4 article (TB 12/9/19) titled “Lights sought at crash site”.

I consider that to be a knee-jerk reaction.

I travel that road every day turning right at the Woolcock St/weston St intersection and can see no problem with the layout of the intersection or the clear uninterrupted view (most important) of the inbound highway to the left when turning right, which is about three-quarters of a kilometre.

Traffic lights as we know do not deter steering wheel attendants from turning against red arrows.

I would suggest the problem is twofold. One is people behind the wheel have a problem judging speed and distance, and some people have no patience.

But in the overall scheme of things the timing of the traffic lights should possibly be investigated.

If you arrive at the intersection at the same time as the traffic flow from the lights at the Bohle arrive, you are confronted with maybe 100 vehicles all spaced apart. Some observe the twosecond rule but others leave a longer space, which obviously spreads the line of traffic out further and takes longer to pass, which is where the impatience of the person behind the wheel may start to take effect.

The whole timing of the lights, I would suggest, needs investigating. Once having negotiated the intersection in question the vehicles then bank up at the traffic lights at Mather St then they all race down to the roundabouts further down the road, a recipe for disaster.

Erecting traffic lights in my opinion is a backward step because traffic lights with red turning arrows do not stop vehicles, only the person behind the wheel can do that.

DAVID THOUMINE,

Cranbrook.