I WOULD like to point readers' attention to a revolutionary development which will turn on its head 80 years of traffic engineering.

Experts at the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), on behalf of the Department of Transport, are proposing to abandon conventional road humps and slow drivers by using psychology to make the roads appear narrower than they are! Although road humps have been credited with cutting speed and reducing accidents, TRL points out that they are expensive to install, costs range from £500 to £15,000, and can increase harmful emissions by forcing drivers to decelerate and speed up again.

Residents initially welcome the "humps" but then complain about vehicle noise and damage to their property due to ground vibration. Motorists loath them for damaging suspensions; bus drivers complain that they give them back ache; and ambulance drivers say that patients are bounced around and lives are endangered by slowing response times.

Wiltshire is already holding trials on a TRL traffic-calming project in the village of Latton, having previously experimented on a number of roads by removing the central white lines in 30mph zones, resulting in a 35 per cent drop in recorded accidents and a reduction in driving speeds. The theory is that the removal of white lines in those areas removes a sense of certainty, and therefore drivers are more cautious.

Will the traffic engineers here be giving consideration to a similar approach here because councils in other areas have already taken action? Barnet Council have promised to rip out 1,000 humps and in Derby, where £260,000 was spent on installing 146 "humps" in May 2000, pressure from residents has not only resulted in a reversal of policy with a programme to remove them, but a local councillor even lost his seat to one of the protesters.

A. WITHINGTON