A few years ago, before I retired, I was a Hove taxi driver.

One morning, I picked up a smart-looking young man, who told me he worked as a traffic manager in Brighton.

At the time, bobble-textured paving stones were being laid at pedestrian crossings and I made a comment about them, which prompted him to explain they were for the benefit of blind pedestrians, who could feel them through the soles of their shoes and so would know they were at a safe place to cross the road.

I said I had noticed some of the paving stones were red and others yellow and I asked him if that was at the whim of the person who was laying them.

"Oh no," he answered proudly, "the red ones indicate it is a controlled crossing and the yellow ones indicate it is a recognised crossing but not a controlled one."

I said: "That must be a tremendous help when you are blind."

The rest of the journey was made in silence.

It comes as no surprise to me that, after all these years, Brighton is still wrestling with its traffic problems, as attested, not least, by the many letters on the subject which appear in The Argus.

-Dale Marland, Hove