Engineering support

[Martin Cassini]

Looking something up, I re-read this letter by Keith Ray in response to my 2006 Telegraph piece, Rip Them Out - In the 1960s I studied engineering at Cambridge. A third-year project sought to improve traffic flow at the notorious Fen Causeway, Lensfield Road, Trumpington Street, Trumpington Road junction, a staggered crossroads producing severe congestion. The brightest young brains of the time never found a solution. A year after I graduated, there was a system failure and for several weeks the lights did not work. What happened? The congestion disappeared overnight as motorists filtered in turn. Even pedestrians found it easier to cross the road. The lights were removed and never replaced. Now there is a system of mini roundabouts, better than lights but worse than nothing, as they don't encourage "filter in turn". I agree with your article: the majority of motorists are considerate and sort out congestion problems naturally.