LAST week circumstances made it necessary for me to travel around the local area in my car.

I live in Morecambe and I had to make several return journeys to south Lancaster.

On my first trip I set off for Lancaster at around 9.50pm and it took about 15 minutes as there was hardly any traffic on the roads.

I headed back into Morecambe around lunchtime and although it was busier I experienced no difficulties.

Later that day I had to drive into Lancaster at around 4.45pm and the traffic coming out of Lancaster was very busy but I had no problems going to the other way.

The following morning I went into Lancaster earlier and caught the end of the school run and there was a hold up. I reckon it added about 10 to 15 minutes to my journey which was a little inconvenient but nothing traumatic.

I must say that what was striking about the congestion was that about 80 per cent of all cars had just one person in them and I did not see many of the big lorries that are considered to be a major problem for the area.

Throughout the week I travelled the "nightmare" Morecambe Road route on many occasions and I concluded the following.

Lancaster and Morecambe does not have a traffic problem. To be more exact, it has a traffic problem at certain times of the day and in particular areas.

There appears to be two very bad times. Going into Lancaster for 9am and getting out of Lancaster at around 5pm. I can imagine that anyone who has to do this journey at these times every day would consider from personal experience that the area has a severe traffic problem.

But this would be a misconception of the true picture. I am encouraged that people looking for remedies to the situation have started to consider options other than "building another road" which patently would have been ineffectual and a gross waste of tax payers' money, not to mention devastating to the environment.

It's quite absurd that everyday we have hundreds of cars containing just one person trying to get to the same place at the same time. A bit of creative thinking like more flexible working hours, car sharing schemes, more working from home, a lot more supermarket home deliveries, more school mini-buses, joined-up cycle networks in the city centre and places to keep your bikes at work, traffic police or wardens directing traffic at key areas at key times and I reckon we wouldn't really have much of a traffic problem. In my opinion it's as much about how we choose to work and travel to work that contributes so much to our traffic problems.

Yet never in the transport debate has either side really focused on this particular issue which would need the support of employers and more enlightened employment practices to be effective.

Mr Riley

Balmoral Road

Morecambe