To stop the jams, turn off the traffic lights!
IT’S absolutely true that this country is rapidly becoming gridlocked (Mail). But we can’t heap the blame solely on cycle lanes and van drivers. The main cause of congestion is an overabundance of traffic lights. These are now an unnecessary evil, causing nothing but chaos. I work as an agent for a consumables company, driving about 600 miles a week. I work five days a week, but lose the equivalent of almost one day every week just sitting in traffic waiting for the lights to change. In the past year or so, most people will have seen or read reports about the flooding here in Cumbria. It meant a lot of problems for most road users — but the damage also caused most of the traffic lights to break down. This resulted in traffic moving swiftly around the towns without any jams or delays. Motorists arrived at work on time and managed to get home earlier than usual. I was able to call on more customers and increase my earnings. Tradesmen reported they had more time to complete more jobs because they could get around more easily. Whenever there’s a traffic light failure, for whatever reason, there are hardly any traffic jams. Once the lights are fixed, it’s back to the usual long queues of gridlocked traffic and heavy pollution of exhaust fumes. It’s time to consider removing the vast majority of traffic lights, or to at least turning them off as an experiment to improve traffic flow. Finland did this a few years ago with tremendous results: traffic jams were virtually eliminated and the country’s economy improved vastly. Think of the electricity costs local councils could save by turning traffic lights off. I can’t be the only one who has to get up earlier each day to get to work and has to put up with arriving home later, all because of traffic lights that serve no useful purpose.
MICHAEL BROOKS, Kendal, Cumbria.
THERE are no cycle lanes in this part of London, but the traffic jams have increased enormously. Could the reason be the increase of a possible two million extra people living here since the last survey four years ago? Just a thought.
JOHN WHITE, Greenford, Middx.