HAVING been involved in motorway design construction for many years, I was sorry to read (LET, December 22) that the first fatality on the recently-opened section of the M65 occurred on an unlit section of the road.

One appreciates that costs and the possible consequent effect on global warming may make it difficult for the purse holders to reconcile with the undoubted benefits of improved driving conditions and, in this case, the possible saving of the life of an unfortunate driver, one who perhaps was unable to tell whether or not she was on the carriageway or the hard shoulder.

Lancashire was right to insist on a differently-coloured surface to distinguish between the live carriageway and the relatively-safe hard shoulder.

R H N SINCLAIR, Assheton Road, Blackburn.

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