Readers' letters - January 29

I feel I must write an open letter via your paper to Lancashire County Council to ask what the reasons are for the change of speed limit through Broughton since the bypass was opened.

This road, which is over 75 per cent rural with no housing, has gone from 40 to 30 and now 20 miles an hour limit, but as soon as a car crosses the roundabout to move into Preston – which is a very built-up area – the limit is 30 !

If there is an argument that there is a school on that road, may I point out that there is a pedestrian crossing and the facility to drop the speed when schools are going in or coming out. A 20-mile limit at these times would be acceptable, but not all day.

I feel that this is just seen as a future revenue scheme to catch motorists who struggle to keep to such a ridiculous speed.

The traffic lights at the crossroads have been covered / disabled, so this creates a situation where a car has to creep out to see beyond the pub on the corner, which is very dangerous.

Could the traffic lights have been kept but with a change of priorities to favour the road from the bypass?

I would also like to comment on the set-up for the new bypass. There is a lane (which started off as buses only) which has been blocked off since week two, forcing all traffic to go left and around the roundabout to come back on itself. This causes a traffic jam every morning.

Would it not be more sensible to let all Broughton traffic use this ‘bus lane’, which is traffic light controlled, thus alleviating the need to go to the roundabout and cause this congestion?

Lastly, please look at the second roundabout on the bypass. The way it has been laid out lends itself to the traffic going straight on swinging to the inside, I have nearly been hit by large lorries several times when turning right.

Caroline Beddows

via email

media

Violence causes more violence

Every day we are forming opinions and attitudes built on what we see around us.

The biggest influence and input that we are exposed to is television – the “stranger” in everyone’s lounge and, to a large extent, bedroom.

What we see and hear from it influences our behaviour, attitudes to others, and our spirituality.

Over the years, we have seen boundaries of decency and behaviour pushed further and further back, resulting in acceptance of issues that would have been strongly objected to by the mass of society 30, 40 and 50 years ago.

Television and its offspring of modern technology – the computer, mobile phones etc – has succeeded in not only dumbing down society, which has been influenced by its bad language and violence, but also been responsible for the break down of communication (especially with families whose TV is literally never switched off).

It is the insidious perpetrator responsible for a crumbling, spiritually starved society, doing a brilliant job of destroying our greatest asset – our minds.

It has desensitized us to the point of total annihilation of our finer feelings.

Love, compassion, humility, kindness, sympathy, generosity and reaching out to others has been wiped out by TV’s daily diet of self-indulgence, violence, cruelty and sexual images, and society will continue to spiral downwards until this huge matter is seriously tackled, and we return once more to the line of moderation in all that we view on TV.

It has caused a national tsunami of mental illness, but we haven’t the professionals to deal with

it.

Wake up, folks! Mary Whitehouse (pictured) was right – feed violence to society, and you get a violent society!

Mrs J G

Normoss

transport

30 years wait a waste of time

Thirty years to upgrade public transport systems in the north is a waste of time and money, when people will not be abandoning their automobiles.

In the next 10 years, everyone will have bought or leased a self-driven electric vehicle. Ten minutes before you leave for your journey, it will emerge from the garage and park at the front door.

On cold mornings the heater will engage, so no need for macs or brollies.

Making yourself comfortable, you can open your laptop to start work on the journey.

The children can catch up on homework, printing their work sheet before reaching the school gates.

Arriving at work, you will not need money for parking. When you’ve alighted from vehicle, it will return to your garage until required to return for you.

These vehicles will be strong and robust to withstand minor scrapes and prangs, and carry passengers that probably weigh around 30 stones.

Alex Gillies

Address supplied

environment

Common sense not plastic

Common sense demands manufacturers should be prohibited by law not to use plastic in any form of packaging, with retailers being fined if they accept goods wrapped in plastic – end of problem!

It has all been getting out of hand – how long before individual apples being wrapped in plastic?

Dave Haskell via email