COMMENT: Road users deserve to be heard (From thisisoxfordshire)

COMMENT: Road users deserve to be heard

11:00am Saturday 26th June 2010 in News

THE Highways Agency will need to demonstrate it is monitoring the new traffic lights at the Botley interchange more closely than would appear.

Some motorists are angry the authority has installed traffic lights and pedestrian crossings on the busy A420 roundabout above the A34, saying it causes significant delays.

Changing junctions always draws criticism from the people using it.

And, to be fair, those motorists who see new measures causing a problem at one particular point will not see improvements elsewhere, which traffic engineers do.

Conversely, organisations such as the Highways Agency cannot sit in an ivory tower. They do need to listen to those motorists who will see all niggles the lights cause.

Remember the bus lane out of Kidlington that Oxford County Council insisted initially was working well as it dismissed motorists’ moans, only to have to scrap it a few months later?

Why, for instance, can the lights not be used only during peak hours?

If this set-up has been properly investigated, why is the Highways Agency using the Seacourt park and ride as one of the justifications for installing a pedestrian crossing? It can hardly be claimed there are large numbers of people walking to and from the park and ride to the roundabout.

They claim the lights are “smart”. We hope the Highways Agency is equally so in sorting out problems.