I COULDN'T quite believe it when I heard Tony Blair stating that New Labour's priorities are "education, education, education."

Great! About time - but are you listening Lancashire County Council? Are you listening, Hyndburn Council?

If so, I and thousands of others, look forward to the dismantling of all the 'insulting' humps, bumps, mini-roundabouts, chicanes, bollards, extended footpaths, metal posts and white paint which now make this area's roads into an affront to human intelligence.

Does anyone at the council realise, as well, what a potential danger, menace and nuisance these things are for the fire brigade, paramedics, police, bus and wagon drivers, cyclists - to name but a few?

Yes, of course there are reckless dangerous and speeding drivers, but all that these traffic-calming measures do is to ignore the real problem - lack of respect for the law.

All responsible and law-abiding drivers should not be made to suffer because of the irresponsible few. Since when has a problem (reckless and speeding drivers) been solved by throwing another problem at it? Since when has the adoption of the lowest common denominator led to real progress?

A firm 'law and order' policy - together with Tony Blair's advice is the only way of changing driver attitudes so, because "education, education, education" has now been adopted by New Labour, these traffic-calming measures can now only be an embarrassment to our local Labour-controlled councils.

Any successful businessman will have heard the phrase: "If you thing education is expensive - try ignorance." Well, the latter seems to be exactly the current policy adopted by our councils and it's time for a change.

If nothing happens on driver education and these measures still exist after the next 12 months or so, then, perhaps, three other words may be more appropriate at the next conference - "hypocrisy, hypocrisy, hypocrisy."

ADRIAN SHURMER (Defensive driving adviser), Lyndon Avenue, Great Harwood.

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