I’ll avoid A14

I HAVE been most unfortunate to have a period of time working in the local area and needing to use the A14.

My experience tells me there has been no reduction in accidents since the installation of the average speed cameras, as I have been forced to the back roads on at least five occasions in the space of a fortnight. What I see are more lorries in the outside lane as, it seems, many people are wrongly thinking the national limit for dual carriageways is 60mph and are driving below that speed.

Even worse is that many people do not understand what average means. I have seen countless vehicles travelling at about 65mph-plus and all of a sudden over-brake to 50mph approaching the cameras.

This has made this stretch of the A14 even more frustrating than it was before.

It seems that the erratic few, entering from the slip roads straight across the first lane into the outside lane, have increased, as have those leaving it to the second-last approach sign to exit. I would suggest cameras on the junctions and slip roads to catch dangerous drivers would have been far more effective.

It would be wrong to restrict lorries to the inside lane at peak periods as this would make it very difficult to join or leave the road, but introducing fixed penalties for driving too close would be far better than trying to control speed.

I guess the cameras are reducing usage, as I for one will choose village routes north of Cambridge and the A1 for anywhere south of Cambridge during peak periods.

MARTIN SANDERSON, Wyton