A NEW road improvement programme affecting the busiest commuter route in West Devon was this week slammed by a prominent councillor, who claimed it would spark even worse traffic congestion during rush hours. The scheme to build a series of traffic islands at eight different points on the A386 between Yelverton and Roborough is due to be discussed at the West Devon Highways and Traffic Orders committee (HATOC) meeting tomorrow (Friday). The islands, plus new signage and road markings, have been proposed in order to address an accident tally of 44 recorded casualties between January 2000 and April 2003, including two fatal and 12 serious casualties. But West Devon councillor Roger Mathew has criticised the proposals and said the new islands would create a single ?long, slow procession? of traffic across Roborough Down. He said: ?These islands will pinch out all the overtaking points on the A386 ? it will slow everything down to the speed of the slowest refuse truck or other slow moving vehicle. ?There will be absolutely nowhere else to get past vehicles ? it seems to me that progressively, over the years, almost all the overtaking points between Yelverton and Roborough have been pinched out.? Cllr Matthew agreed the county was right to try and address the safety issues on the A386. But he queried the method that was being proposed. ?It seems to me that what you want to do is maintain a constant speed. It doesn?t have to be a frenetic speed, as long as you aren?t stop, start, stop. ?The more slow downs and speed ups you have, the more likely you are to have rear-end shunts. I am not at all convinced this is the right thing to do.? The islands would be constructed at the Bickleigh, Clearbrook, Milton Combe, Moorland Links, Yelverton Golf Club and Crapstone junctions, also another at the spot where golfers cross the main road. Cllr Mathew said rather than islands, deceleration tapers should be considered for these junctions ? a proposal was considered by county officers, but rejected as too expensive. ?Deceleration tapers would seem to me to be the sensible thing to do. You should do these things properly, even if you can?t do them all at once, rather than cluttering up the A386 and congesting it even further,? he said. Cllr Mathew was also concerned that cyclists may be affected by the extra traffic islands. ?I gather they are not terribly happy with the existing ones, they don?t feel there is enough room for them to negotiate them safely,? he said. Local service officer Brian George, who prepared the HATOC report, said the proposals were ?primarily safety-driven?. ?Having assessed the road, a lot of the serious accidents relate to overtaking,? said Mr George. The report found a high proportion of the more serious incidents on the A386 involved turning movements. Two junctions off the road had central islands to protect right turning traffic ? but five others did not. ?It is anticipated these measures will save seven serious accidents in a three-year period,? said Mr George. He said the idea of the islands was to deter motorists from overtaking in inappropriate situations. As far as congestion was concerned, Mr George said drivers who overtook on faster stretches of road often found other vehicles would catch up with them in slower areas ? and if traffic was moving slowly, drivers would not be in an overtaking situation anyway. Deceleration tapers had been considered but were rejected as they required greater land take and construction costs would have made them ?unviable?. The HATOC meeting takes place in the borough offices at Okehampton on Friday at 2.15pm.