MOTORISTS in Oxford are continually, and I really mean continually, bombarded with totally unnecessary road works to “improve” their “driving experience” in the city and around the ring road.

Why do highways engineers think that putting traffic lights on a perfectly functioning roundabout improves traffic flow?

Put lights on a roundabout and you instantly change it to a crossroads, with the inherent slowing down and interruption to the natural traffic flow.

There is then no need for the roundabout.

I saw this happen on the A34 roundabout that drops down from the Western Bypass to Botley. I complained at the time about the £600,000 waste of taxpayers’ money when it was being changed over to traffic lights, i.e it was being changed to a crossroads.

The roundabout functioned extremely well without traffic lights for 20 hours a day without any interruption to its flow.

For four hours a day, drivers had to stop and start to get to work with traffic lights.

Yes, that was an absolute pain indeed, but what happens now?

Exactly as I predicted: the traffic flow is interrupted artificially all day; the slip roads off the A34 are continually filled up with traffic that then has to get on to and around the roundabout before the next set of traffic lights change.

For goodness sake engineers, get rid of the traffic lights. Look at what happened at Frideswide Square when the two sets of traffic lights were removed – the traffic flowed. Yes, you have to wait your turn, but you are not artificially stopped by traffic lights and made to wait longer.

Why are the drivers of Oxford going to have to put up with unnecessary roadworks at the Wolvercote roundabout for 16 months? It is totally unnecessary. It’s not the roundabout that’s the problem, it’s the amount of traffic.

Build a bypass that takes all the London traffic from the north away from the near centre of Oxford. Get rid of that traffic that has to funnel into the Woodstock Road, Sunderland Avenue and Elsfield Way – it’s really quite obvious.

I won’t be going into Oxford anymore and I’m sure a huge number of regular Oxford people will make that same decision.

I certainly would not like to be running a business in Oxford.

It takes me 15 minutes to get to Witney – the car parking is free, the shops are easily accessible.

Guess where I will go for my shopping from now on?

PETER SISSONS
Appleton Road
Cumnor