REGARDING the comments (Letters, July 26) of former councillor Chris Reid on the much publicised Traffic calming in the borough, to intimate that the majority of road users should suffer due to the actions of a lunatic minority only serves to highlight the stupidity of many of these schemes in the first place.

He also intimates that qualified road engineers have an impeccable knowledge of road safety requirements. I, for one, would certainly not subscribe to that.

I have always been of the opinion that before any one puts a line on a drawing, they should first spend a reasonable amount of time at the sharp end, seeing just what are the consequences in future years. One can only presume that the same strain of engineers responsible for Hyndburn's traffic calming were also responsible for 'Ellman's Folly' (Church Traffic Lights).

This horrendous road layout borders on the ridiculous when it comes to traffic management, so much so that the only time there are no problems at this junction is when the lights are not working; traffic then flows smoothly with no hold-ups.

I would suggest that Chris Reid tries calling on a few houses on Burnley Road, Accrington to ask what the residents think about the latest fiasco. I bet he doesn't knock on too many doors.

JOHN D FARRER, Mallard Place, Oswaldtwistle.

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