Mr D Northwood, of Mayfair Road, Ipplepen, writes:
After due consideration I feel I must write this letter with regard to the traffic situation in Newton Abbot.
On Saturday, August 29 (bank holiday weekend), I had to travel from Ipplepen to Bovey Tracey. As you can imagine, I thought the worst having to drive through Newton Abbot at 11am so I allowed myself plenty of time.
As I drove down past Bakers Park I was amazed to find there was no traffic build-up, like there always is.
Then it all became clear to me when I got to the traffic lights outside your MDA office to find they were not working and there was no queue in any direction.
Everyone was treating it as a roundabout – a real eye-opener. But, as they say, don't count your chickens before they're hatched because, as soon as I got through the light round by Asda there it was the queue at the junction of Bradley Lane with the traffic lights working.
My return journey was just the same, long queues by traffic lights, followed by flowing traffic where the lights were out.
I then had to travel to Newton Abbot on Sunday, August 30, by which time the traffic lights had been repaired and, even at 10am, the usual stream of traffic was queued back. Surely this must prove that traffic lights cause more problems than necessary, holding traffic back, when vehicles can filter through on a roundabout system.
With all the traffic lights in and around the Newton Abbot area, no wonder there are always long vehicle queues. And also now, with the current ecological climate when households are being forced to use low energy light bulbs, why is it that no one has ever considered just how much energy is used with traffic lights?
Down the years it seems that Newton Abbot has been the focus of importing as many sets of lights as they can possibly get hold of. If you count the bulbs in the junction outside your office it totals 39.
Multiply this by the whole of Newton Abbot – and surely it's about time that the multitude of traffic lights is reduced to just the bare minimum required.