FIRST and foremost can I offer my sympathy to all those involved with the fatal accident on Friday, December 4, on the A46 and to the whole family involved with the cyclist who lies in hospital with life changing injuries. I am sure I echo the thoughts of many.

However, yet again all the councillors in the immediate area are unfortunately out of order. Are they some sort of crash investigators?

In your piece they actually state there has been no reason stated for the latest crash and yet straight away they have linked this to speed and now are using this extremely sad and very sensitive issue to try to get everyone to put pressure on the highways agency.

Not content with that, but the cyclist accident has also been linked into this. Again investigations are ongoing and this sad event should also not be used to promote what Cllr Lunnon and several other councillors have been trying their utmost to push onto the public of Gloucestershire for some time now, cut speed at every possible moment.

Considering that Cllr Lunnon is a cyclist too, she will as many of us that cycle realise, that any solid object be it a car, bus, lorry or even a motorbike will damage a cyclist at any speed.

It goes without saying, a human is made mostly of soft tissue on the outside.

Just to cap the whole sorry event, the picture shows the Pitchcombe fork.

On this occasion this was nowhere near the accident and yet this is used to speak of the dangers of this road and implies some sort of link to the incident.

Instead of the council trying to look as if they are doing something by taking the cheap option by putting some new speed signs up, here’s a radical idea.

How about changing both of these junctions?

For the better.

The model for Pitchcombe already exists.There, At Aston Down is a fairly new roundabout. All approaches are 50mph, and I may be wrong, but since it’s been done, that dangerous junction has had no serious problems.

Put this at the fork and speeds will automatically be adjusted according to amount of traffic on the road and the way that road markings are presented to the approach, changes attitudes.

Perhaps the Sheepscombe junction should also be altered. Maybe traffic lights that operate when they detect anything coming from or going to Sheepscombe.

Or are the councillors putting money before the proper solution and hiding behind ‘safety and speed’?

Ray Relph

Stroud