WHAT a pity so many people have fallen for the myth of the Western bypass. All its alleged benefits are fantasies and misconceptions of motorists. Hilton Dawson, Geraldine Smith and the policymakers show no understanding of the causes and logistics of traffic jams.

They take no account of the motor car's ability to fill all available roads and they assume there will be zero traffic growth after its completion. They insist the source of the problem is heavy lorries and Heysham freight traffic. This is not true. There were more lorries on the streets of Lancaster 30 years ago but no one complained. The responsibility rests with the excesses of the modern private motorist.

Road building is not the solution - it is part of the problem! Mr Dawson thinks that building another big road will encourage people to take the train or bus. Come off it. Not when you can have a car on the road for as little as £650. The only way to slow the growth of traffic is by limiting the space you make available.

The Western Bypass will simply open the floodgates for more. For every lorry removed from Morecambe Road the space will be filled by three or four cars with one person or some extra school runs. There are no less than six schools between Ovangle Road and Slyne Road.

How much traffic is really out there? Are there really 40,000 vehicles a day using Morecambe Road or is it 10,000 making four trips a day? There is a big difference. How many cars does it take to form a traffic jam? Is it 100, 1,000 or 10,000? The answer is one. One indecisive, slothful driver can cause a half-mile tailback in two minutes. There will always be huge queues of standing traffic in the city centre as long as there is an obsolete one-way system with 18 sets of traffic lights. It is futile pleading with the motorist to use his car widely, he won't. The quarter mile car journey is now commonplace.

Hilton Dawson has lost the plot if he thinks the Luneside link will free St George's Quay of traffic. It will make an attractive rat run from Heysham, Overton and Middleton to the city centre.

Hundreds of cars from the Marsh area will continue to use it. His answer to urban pollution is to go an pollute the countryside. Accidents won't be cut. What about the carnage caused by high-speed pile ups on the Western Bypass.

The promised job bonanza will never happen. Are they re-opening Lansil, Storeys or Williamsons. Will the sweat shops of Asia be relocating to Heysham? Will tourists choose Morecambe instead of Florida or Spain because there's a bypass. Even the bypass construction job would go to contractors from outside the area who will bring their own labour force.

How long will it be before the green and pleasant single carriageway become a massive sprawl of car dependent houses with triple garages? These days property developers with big money can wipe the floor with anyone who stands in their way.

The case for the Western Bypass does not have a leg to stand on. Being stuck in a traffic jam for around 20 minutes is a trivial inconvenience not a major tragedy.

M. Zajac

Vicarage Terrace

Lancaster