NOW that poor Okehampton is plagued with more traffic lights per square mile than the centre of London it was some relief that the main set stopped working recently.
There were of course none of the normal queues of waiting traffic although it was sometimes more difficult for pedestrians to safely cross.
These main traffic lights are normally operated with the most inefficient timings imaginable by allowing only one of the four directions to flow at any one time.
This means that each direction is deliberately held stationary for over 45 minutes in every hour and allowing for the changeover sequencing probably results in each direction having only 10 to 12 minutes movement for every hour.
The inevitable result is traffic queues even during quiet periods and constant unnecessary delays and waiting.
These timings need to be changed to allow normal two-way traffic flow, particularly before the opening of Waitrose and the increase in summer traffic.
However as is only too sadly apparent, with the recent introduction of completely unnecessary traffic lights at East Street/Mill Road, common sense is unlikely to prevail.
David Bagshall
Grindhill Farm
Broadbury