I READ in The Hunts Post that the council and the Highways Agency are patting each other on the back by saying that the closing of several lay-bys along the A14 stretch in Cambridgeshire will be a great improvement to road safety. But is it not the Highwa

I READ in The Hunts Post that the council and the Highways Agency are patting each other on the back by saying that the closing of several lay-bys along the A14 stretch in Cambridgeshire will be a great improvement to road safety. But is it not the Highways Agency that informs us on its very expensive overhead matrix signs that "tiredness kills: take a break".

Is it so that the odd absent-minded car driver that pulls straight out in front of a 44-tonne brick hurtling down the road at 56 mph is protected? Or is it a cynical move to stop lorries parking overnight in lay-bys?

Think about the poor lorry driver that has to drive up to his maximum permitted hours because his employers say he must drive the maximum hours he can and then he must find a place to rest. It's not easy when Alconbury truck stop is closed, and signs are put up around Bar Hill saying "No overnight parking for HGVs".

Now we have the council and Highways Agency shutting lay-bys and putting what looks like scaffold poles in the ground to stop HGVs pulling off the road sufficiently for the poor driver to get his head down for a few hours' rest.

I would rather be able to go to the shops in the morning safe in the knowledge that my milk, paper and bread have been delivered on time than hear on the news that the A14 is blocked (again) because a tired lorry driver has fallen asleep and tipped his vehicle over.

Why can we not have rest areas like the French have on their motorways - well away from the roar of the traffic where drivers can get a decent rest, or is it as I suspect more of a cost cutting exercise? Perhaps they should have thought of that when they squandered taxpayers' money upgrading the lay-by opposite the crematorium, which has never been used because it is dangerous, as they were told when the upgrading work was being carried out.

FRED KING

Station Road

Bluntisham