IT was interesting to read the letter from Alec Dobson (April 24). Like me, Alec is a past chairman of York Advanced Motorists, so we share a common interest in safe motoring.

I am not surprised at the low level of motorists' knowledge of the Highway Code but am sympathetic towards them considering the heavy pressures brought on drivers today, and the increasing amount of information we are all expected to take in while driving.

One has only to look at the number of demands placed on drivers using the new roundabout on the old Malton Road at its junction with Stockton Lane to realise just how much information our brains are expected to absorb and process into safe decisions.

A green coloured section for cyclists, relatively narrow entries and exits, car and cycle lane lines all around, capped off with a small central part, thereby limiting the time in which drivers have to make decisions and, hopefully, negotiate the hazard without harm to self or other persons.

It is time the state changed its attitudes towards motorists, especially private drivers, and allocated substantially more money to the construction of new roads, the repair of existing ones and the upgrading of those no longer adequate to cope with the demands placed upon them. The A1079 is a classic example.

Motorists contribute billions of pounds to this country's coffers. It is high time a lot, lot more of it was reinvested in the country's road network.

J C Potter,

Eastfield Avenue, Haxby, York.

Updated: 12:12 Wednesday, May 02, 2001