I READ with interest the article about the notorious Grane Road (LET, October 12) and I, too, am a fellow sufferer with increased Traffic using this road.

Although my son was involved in a bad accident on the road, he was fortunate to escape with only minor injuries. Unlike many of the accidents, it was not caused by speeding or inconsiderate driving, but by a stray sheep that had been killed and left to lie on the road for more than an hour after the police had been informed. My son was travelling home late at night on the unlit road and came upon what he thought was a human body in the road. Swerving to avoid it he hit the kerb and was catapulted over the dry stone wall into the adjoining field. He managed to escape through the window of the driver's door.

The car itself was crushed beyond recognition and when the police did finally attend, they thought they had come to a fatal incident. My son was travelling well inside the limit and had the accident not been witnessed by an off-duty policeman we would have questioned this. He was very lucky to be alive.

When we moved to Belthorn 10 years ago, we were told that a new motorway plan would relieve our road from most of the traffic. How gullible we were .

Traffic continues late into the night and every morning from 4.30am heavy goods vehicles rumble up the road.

Like your writer, we have witnessed many accidents on our own doorstep. Our row of cottages runs at 90 degrees to Grane Road. Each morning we take our lives in our own hands venturing to join the incessant throng of cars and lorries down the road.

It is not only the traffic travelling down that presents a problem, it is many cars overtaking slow-moving traffic coming up the road and barely missing the bonnet of our car.

Cars regularly park outside the public house next to our lane, which greatly reduces the ability to see downhill traffic.

WENDY HOWARD, Kendal Road, Belthorn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.