I note that The Whisperer has noticed a set of stop-start traffic lights in Scotland that ensure traffic does not speed through the village of Springholm, Dumfries and Galloway [routeone/The Whisperer/1 November].
The oldest ideas are often the best.
Back in the late 1960s, when I first started driving, I got a job as a sales representative with Unigate Dairy Sales. My patch covered areas to the west of London and I had a number of customers on the Slough Trading Estate.
When travelling along the A4 (there was no M4 in those days), there were a large number of traffic lights and if you drove along at 28mph they all changed to green as you approached. But travel at 35mph and each one was red as you approached, making 28mph the fastest speed worth doing.
Everyone who regularly travelled along the road was aware of the system and observed the speed limit.
I have often wondered why it was, until now – 50 years later – not used elsewhere.
Alan Whittington, Professional
Transport Services, Wisbech
