IT seems Liz Edge and others want road humps to be abolished and spoil my fun. I like racing about, flying over humps, flashing through red lights and ignoring speed restrictions and other signs.

Just like Steve McQueen in Bullitt. I'm only joking, but a lot of people do.

Humps, traffic lights and road signs are there for a purpose, to reduce speed and hopefully save lives.

Don't abolish or ignore them, slow down - the next accident could be yours.

P J Markwick,

Forge Close,

Jockey Lane,

York.

...I WAS sorry to lose Liz Edge as a councillor at the last elections, but after reading her deranged diatribe in the traffic calming debate with Ann Reid (March 31), I breathed a sigh of relief that we were rid of that kind of representation.

It seems Mrs Edge has joined the ranks of the selfish "don't slow down for anything" petrolheads, and her arguments are not coherent.

Firstly she complains at having to apologise for "being held up by cyclists". Well, since a regular trip of mine from the Mount to Monkgate takes ten minutes on a bike and 40 in a car, just who is holding up whom? Every cyclist in town must have chuckled at that one!

As for her ill-informed rant about "bendy buses". Please can she explain how they are more polluting than the standard ones? They have the same engine.

They also use that engine to carry more passengers, making less pollution per passenger. As I regularly find myself riding a few feet from the exhausts of these beasts, I don't find them nearly as noxious as coaches, lorries and the old buses used by some other firms.

I agree wholeheartedly with Ann Reid's well-researched response. If a certain kind of selfish driver could be trusted to drive sensibly and safely, there would be no need for humps, but unfortunately a physical barrier is so often the only way to force some morons to keep within the law, and on the right side of manslaughter.

Liz, I'm sorry to say this after your lifetime of service to the city, but you're a disgrace to the majority of courteous drivers. Get a bike, get on a bus, or think hard. Our children don't need to meet those selfish attitudes behind a steering wheel.

Andy Scaife,

Lowther Terrace, York.

...MY comments on traffic calming were based on expert advice and a Department of Transport report. Many local authorities are now considering a range of other means of controlling traffic.

It's called learning from experience, something which I felt City of York Council could at least consider.

First, can I point out I never said "scrap the humps" (editorial licence?)

Next, to my friends Peter Vaughan and Paul Hepworth (Letters, April 5 and 2 respectively).

You should know me well enough to know that I would not go public on such a controversial issue unless I believed I had a majority of support for my ideas.

These views were widely expressed at public meetings in Holgate and I did my best to represent them. Equally in areas where traffic calming was requested I also did my best to represent these views. Regarding my comments on politicisation, does anyone really think that the existing council could cause such chaos in nine short months?

I agree that there are two busy periods for traffic, commonly known as the "school/work run". However, being retired I now have the luxury of avoiding those periods. But I continue to make mental notes of bus passenger numbers outside the rush hours: 15 is still the maximum number I have seen.

This is a long term problem which needs a combination of ideas to come up with solutions. The present closed-mind attitude will get the city nowhere.

For starters why not consider abolishing "bendy buses" and double deckers? Can we not also consider more use of mini-buses?

My other criticism, the millions of pounds spent on cycle tracks: as a city can we really afford all this money on what is basically a minority (all be it powerfully-backed) interest?

I am grateful for readers' sensible alternatives to speed humps.

Liz Edge,

Parkside Close,

York.

Updated: 11:48 Thursday, April 08, 2004