By Don Anderson; Graham Road, Wimbledon

It can only be a matter of time before I get penalised for turning right out of Dorset Road, Wimbledon, as you reported .

It is not that I have disregard for road markings, but there is simply no option but to pull into the box junction.

When the lights change, the already-moving traffic in Kingston Road pulls to a stop, occupying the three car spaces between the box junction and the level crossing.

The traffic waiting to come out of Dorset Road does not stand a chance because the traffic stream, from the White Hart pub direction, continues long after these three places have been filled.

There are two ways to alleviate the problem, which has existed for years.

One way would be to phase the traffic lights by the White Hart car park to go red 30 seconds before the ones on the other side of the crossing. The cars from Dorset Road would then at least be in with a chance of joining the Kingston Road traffic stream. 

The better solution would be to install additional traffic lights at the corner of the telephone exchange to stop traffic there at the same time as the existing lights go red. This would allow cars from the two side roads to occupy the three spaces up to the crossing.

Hartfield Road has a phase of its own, but Dorset and Kingswood Roads have nothing.

The council, with a windfall of £35,000 in the kitty from the fines, would have plenty of money to install these extra lights.

If there is any sincerity in Councillor Betteridge’s claim that this box junction he has had painted has any contribution to make in “easing traffic flow”, and it is not there for the purpose of making money from fining motorists, then he should implement this solution.

Or he should admit that his cross-hatching worsens the difficulty and have them painted out.