After the stories concerning the daily dangers from speeding and inconsiderate motorists that affect pedestrians in Commercial Road, I have been waiting for someone to mention what I have long thought to be one of the major causes of the problem, but unless I am mistaken, nobody to date seems to have done so.

It must be at least ten years ago during road resurfacing that the road was made a single lane, which may have been by design or by accident, as the centre dividing broken white line was never restored, although it may well have been an omission by our council planners at the time.

However, if it was by design then it has surely been a bad decision which I feel has lead to many of the current problems.

It would appear that some vehicles driving at excessive speed are prone to do so as they see the road as a type of chicane where they cut in front of, or engage in a race with, the vehicle immediately to the side of them.

Simply by restoring the broken white lines would I am sure go a long way to curing many of the problems, including those of vehicles failing to stop for pedestrians at the crossings, as it brings back the order that has been lacking for a considerable period of time.

It doesn’t take a genius to realise that if drivers that are concentrating on the road position of their own vehicle in relation to those coming up by the side of them, they may not allow sufficient time to stop when they get to a pedestrian crossing before they are on top of it, with the experience coming as a sudden shock to some inexperienced drivers. After all, these are the same council road planners who think it is a good idea to put filter lanes that merge into a single lane before a railway bridge, as in Wootton Bassett Road, and also think it a good idea to put traffic islands immediately opposite the bus shelter at the bottom of Kingshill Road, so every bus that stops causes a traffic hold up that adds yet more congestion to Westcott Place.

It has been said before that some of the road schemes seem to be irrational to say the least and in some cases illogical, and it would seem perhaps one of them has been made in the past concerning Commercial Road and has now come back to bite them.

I think restoring the broken white lines should be trialled at least to start with to stop the free-for-all, and may prove to be all that is needed.

G A Woodward Nelson Street Swindon