Letter: These bus lanes don't address the problem

They now propose two permanent bus lanes on the A259 coast road. One is in the eastbound carriageway from Ovingdean roundabout to Rottingdean traffic lights, the other in the westbound carriageway from Telscombe Cliffs to Rottingdean.

The bottleneck at these traffic lights remains. It is this that creates the problem. Bus lanes that stop short of them will not solve it. There is no solution other than unacceptable wholesale demolition for road-widening.

As the problem is only acute during the morning and evening rush-hour, there is no justification for round-the-clock bus lanes.

Besides the unnecessary cost and disruptive chaos caused by two years of construction, this draconian proposal will have other harmful consequences.

Forcing two lanes of traffic into one will double congestion and increase pollution. Rush-hour traffic will back up for twice the distance it does now. This will no doubt lead to a demand for more counter-productive bus lanes.

To accommodate the proposed bus lanes it will be necessary to widen parts of the A259. This will lose green verges and narrow footpaths, bringing pedestrians into undesirably close proximity to passing vehicles.

And, let's face it, these will not just be buses. In the lawless state of today's society and in view of the limited success our police have in enforcing existing rules of the road it is difficult to see how full-time bus lanes on a main highway can be enforced. They are a recipe for anarchy.

Many people will be unaware of these proposals. Public consultation has been of a token nature, confined to a three-day exhibition in Rottingdean and Telscombe Cliffs, presumably in the belief that the scheme is of concern only to local residents.

Yet it affects all regular users of the A259, not only the private motorist whom the council seeks to force onto bus or bike, but also essential commercial traffic.

Full details of the scheme may be seen on their web sites.

-Edward Goring, Ovingdean