Mr Cornwall's comments (Letters, May 31) made good sense and there are facts about A27 fatalties which opponents of making the Polegate to Lewes road into a dual carriageway should well consider.

Over a period of five years, there have been 13 fatalities on that stretch of road. During the same period, on the road from Lewes to Falmer, which is a dual carriageway, there have been none.

The obvious point is that if a vehicle travelling at 60mph hits one moving at 40mph on a dual carriageway, they are going in the same direction so the relative speed is 20mph. But on the Polegate to Lewes road they could meet head-on and the relative speed would be 100mph, with disastrous consequences.

Unfortunately, the authorities don't think ahead so we will soon get a new single-carriageway bridge, with all its attendant roadworks, for the Beddingham railcrossing.

This will probably cost more than £30 million, which would be a bottleneck to a new dual carriageway.

  • Brian Beck, Highdown Road, Lewes