Letter: Taking a drive in Northampton is a gamble!

Letter writer Alan Miles says that driving standards in Northampton are becoming worse...

To say that I was astounded by Gary Woods letter (Chronicle & Echo, December 6) is the greatest understatement I can muster.

Gary, having had the pleasure of driving in town, wished to thank all the drivers of Northampton for putting not only “a smile on my face” but having “ended up laughing out loud due to things he had witnessed.

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Is Gary in some alternate rose tinted universe with drivers akin to Postman Pat? What I witnessed on Wednesday, December 5 at the The Windhover junction was the most crass, arrogant and dangerous example of insanity yet displayed by a Northampton “Smile on Your Face Driver of the Day”.

Instead of waiting for his opportunity to filter left onto the Welford Road, toward Kingsthorpe, this demented, buffoon mounted the pavement and drove at high speed along the pavement for around 50 yards before returning to the highway! I would value Gary’s opinion on that manoeuvre.

Has he not witnessed the new generation of “amber gamblers” – the red light runners that proliferate our roads and the drivers who ignore the simple rules of the road with such ignorance and arrogance such as giving way to drivers at mini-roundabouts, giving way to oncoming vehicles when impeded by parked cars, waiting for a safe exit from a T-junction; the list goes on.

Roads, not only in Northampton but across the country have become a roll of the dice in terms of potential road injuries or fatalities. There are more vehicles on Northampton roads today and at all times of the day, than at any other time since the invention of the motor car.

This serious situation can only become, predictably, worse.

The scene is set for the number of injuries and fatalities due to reckless and hazardous driving to increase dramatically.

Alan Miles, by email