Indeed, while "pre-improvement" traffic may have crawled during the rush hour, now it is at a standstill.

Perhaps this is due to the incorporation of traffic lights in the scheme?

A similar experiment at Lynch Wood Business Park failed when it was found that the activation of traffic signalling increased traffic congestion.

Why is it that "traffic improvement" schemes appear inevitably to increase congestion rather than ease it?

It would be beneficial to look again at opening both lanes of all access points to and from the parkways, provided that where joining the parkway the lanes are staggered, as can be found on many motorway junctions, to improve safety: a significant improvement in traffic throughput at an only marginal expense of adjoining land.

Isn't that what the parkways were designed for – to improve the flow of traffic around our city?

On a related matter, I am glad to see that the bus lanes imposed in the city centre have been suspended. I look forward to their permanent abandonment.

Having said that, I note from a news item this morning that that there are traffic lanes in New Zealand which may be used by cars carrying four passengers – a far more effective use of resources than part-filled "buses only" lanes.

Amusing to note that some motorists there used shop mannequins and inflatable dolls to make up the required passenger quotient.
Some people will try anything to gain the merest advantage over the rest of us.
Jonathan Wilde
River Lane,
Peterborough

Unpleasant for pheasants
In the wake of their exposé of the cruelty of factory-farmed chicken, Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have trumpeted pheasant meat as an ethical alternative.
However, annually, some 42 million pheasants and partridges are purpose-bred to serve as feathered targets for wealthy "guns". Production typically involves the use of metal battery cages.
After release, beaters scare the birds into the sky – and some 40 per cent of shot birds are wounded but not retrieved. They die from their wounds or predation or under the wheels of vehicles.
Animal Aid has produced a new factsheet called Cheating the Public. It can be downloaded from www.animalaid. org.uk, or ordered by calling 01732 364546.
Fiona Pereira
Animal Aid,
Tonbridge,
Kent

Petition name not so unusual
I read with a little amazement the letter from Roger Hughes about his name appearing on the ever-growing list on a petition criticising the appointment and calling for the convicted deputy mayor to be removed from office.
Can I ask, is there only one Roger Hughes in the country? Or even the city? Does the Roger Hughes who wrote the letter have the technology to hack into the petition site to confirm that his name has been misued?
This petition can be signed by anyone who feels that the appointment of a convicted benefit fraudster to deputy mayor is wrong. It is called living in a free (although not as free as it was) country. And there must be more than one Roger Hughes in the UK. The petition can be accessed on http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ Peterborough/
Also, am I the only person who thinks that if the deputy mayor had the qualities needed for the role, such as integrity and honour, he would have already resigned? But, clearly, he seems to like the attention too much.
Marion Brown
Walton,
Peterborough