TRAFFIC CENSUS

Derby City Council officials were forced to halt a traffic census for two-and-a-half-hours as it descended into farce at about 9.30am in Borrowash Road on the westbound carriageway of the A52. As officials stopped and quizzed motorists about their driving habits, a traffic jam grew that backed up as far as junction 25 of the motorway near Risley. The council plans further traffic surveys, in different parts of the city, which involves stopping vehicles, handing out cards and requesting details from drivers about their journeys.

A council spokeswoman said, "The aim is to find out the driving patterns of motorists coming into the city. It will then help us to plan for transportation needs in the future. The surveys will be carried out between working hours, but we won't be publicising where they'll be because drivers will change their route." And that would never do, would it? The traffic problems even hit Derby Crown Court, with a number of cases put back by up to an hour after officials were caught up in the chaos and buses were also got caught up in the queues.

A police spokesman said, "The organisers decided to cancel the census for a while because it was causing all sorts of problems. It wasn't our decision." What further proof is needed that the council are actively promoting traffic congestion? And how much money has the council cost businesses as well as delaying and inconveniencing many people trying to get to work purely to be told (again) what everyone else already knows? Finally, how much are these surveys costing the taxpayer?

A52 GRIDLOCK DOWN TO CENSUS STUPIDITY

I know that local authorities are not noted for their common sense, but the decision by Derby City Council to hold a traffic census on the westbound A52 at Spondon first thing in the morning plumbed new depths of crass stupidity. I can only assume that the decision was made by someone who did not stop, for one moment, to consider the consequences. For those who do not use this road, let me inform you of a few facts. This stretch of the A52 links the M1 at junction 25 to Derby. It is a dual carriageway and a busy commuter route from Derby to the M1 and Nottingham throughout the day and particularly during the morning and evening rush hours.

Did no-one consider that closing one of the lanes to stop and question motorists about their use of the road might not cause a few problems in the morning rush hour? Did no-one think that it might have been slightly more sensible to hold the census in a lay-by so that disruption to traffic was kept to a minimum? Certainly, in my experience, this is normally what is done when a traffic census is carried out. As a consequence of their ill-considered actions, hundreds of motorists had their journeys to work severely and unnecessarily delayed. A journey of 10 minutes from the M1 to Derby took 40 minutes and caused me, and countless others, to be severely delayed.

By the time I had actually crawled to the census point, the questioning had been stopped because of the disastrous knock-on effect to neighbouring roads. Unfortunately, the damage had been done and it took several hours for the jams to ease. As I understand it, the traffic jam was so long, it actually stretched back onto the northbound M1 and east into Nottinghamshire on the other side of junction 25. A colleague, also caught in the gridlock, decided, like many others, to avoid the A52 and take the back roads through Risley from junction 25 with the aim of re-joining the A52 at Borrowash.

She finally ended up coming through Spondon where she was caught by another traffic census on the main road. Needless to say, the Spondon traffic census results will be entirely distorted by the fact that many motorists driving through would not usually do so because they would normally take the A52! I would be interested to know whether the powers-that-be actually believe they achieved anything worthwhile. Unfortunately, I was not given the opportunity to share my thoughts with the people running the survey. Jane Goddard