Councillor Stephen Peters' letter (Advertiser, March 27) on the subject of Becketts island in Wythall misses the point completely.
How can he talk about 'lane discipline' when there are is no indication of which lane you should be in until you are on top of the island itself.
Those road markings are on the road itself and are usually obscured by other cars queuing on top of them.
It is all very well for us locals to pontificate on the subject of bad driving but consider someone who has never used the roundabout before.
In planning their journey, they will see that in every road atlas - or even on the OS map - the road to Drakes Cross and Hollywood is straight ahead at the roundabout when approached from the direction of the M42.
What is more natural, under these circumstances, than to assume the middle lane is the lane in which to approach the roundabout.
The only sign before the island does nothing to contradict this view.
The fact the roundabout is oval, rather than round, and has a large
mound in the middle means it is impossible for those who come
to the roundabout for the first time to take in its layout in a single glance.
If the powers that be want people to approach the roundabout in the
right hand lane for Drakes Cross and Hollywood, they should erect signs
50 to 75 yards away indicating which lane to get in.
Until this step is taken, the roundabout is fundamentally unsafe.
We do not want a roundabout designed for self-important, so-called 'advanced motorists' like Councillor Peters. We want a roundabout safe for the 18 year old who has just passed his driving test and the 80-year-old grandmother who naturally panic when they find themselves in the wrong lane, having had no prior warning of which lane to be in.
Bob Hawkins,
Greenacres,
Drakes Cross
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