Dear Sir,

I was prompted to write this letter after experiencing once again what has become a regular occurrence down on Middle Road in Devonshire when Somersfield Academy is in session.

I, along with many other road users, was subjected to a very long delay which occurs almost every school morning and afternoon when parents picking up or dropping their children off are going in and coming out of the school compound.

The traffic gets backed up in both directions while a constant stream of cars goes in and out of the property.

Also, there seems to be some kind of understanding between those drivers of, “I let you in and you let me out”, while the rest of the motoring public are left cooling our heels.

One other contributing factor is the fact that this area also services the Chaingate Hill road, adding to the congestion.

One laughable moment occurred when a police vehicle, which was also waiting in the eastbound lane for quite some time, suddenly activated its emergency horn and lights, pulled out of the traffic and promptly disappeared around the corner and was gone.

Perhaps he got an emergency call or maybe he realised he had a privileged advantage and used it. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

On that note, perhaps it might be a good idea to station a traffic control officer down there to better control things until things quiet down. It might even be a good idea for those of us who don’t have to use that route during those times of the day, to take an alternate route and help to ease the congestion. That is my intention.

To the Somersfield Academy administration, I have a question. Is there any kind of consideration being given to the solving of this problem?

Perhaps you can take a look at having the parents arriving at the school all approaching from the same direction and the departing ones do the same thing. It might just help. Any thoughts on this matter?

YOURS FOR SMOOTHER DRIVING

Smith’s