HAVING driven by car to Fairfield Hospital, along Rochdale Old Road, Bury, I totally support recent comments about the need for a new access route. My average speed from Wash Lane to Fairfield was six miles per hour.

The authorities have to consider the cost of a new road, whether it be to local ratepayers or to central government. Accordingly, it is likely that the business management strategy known as "risk assessment" will be the main criterion used.

So perhaps the authorities consider it acceptable for there to be, say, up to four deaths over a two-year period resulting from delays in delivering patients to Fairfield, via Rochdale Old Road. Maybe only then will the go-ahead be given for a new access route.

People may recall the tragic situation, more than 20 years ago, when the Irwell Valley section of the M62 was not illuminated, not until there had been around a dozen deaths in just over 18 months. Ironically, local people had predicted that this would happen.

NORMAN A. ELLISON,

Radcliffe.