Dear Reader: Long-term traffic chaos + jailed in a cell!

A custody suite at Harrogate Police Station.

A personal column by the Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers

Is Harrogate in danger of turning into one giant car park?

The thought did cross my mind as I stop-started my way up Otley Road on the way to work the other day.

Another thought was that a car which struggles to go anywhere isn’t really a car anymore, it’s a skip with wheels.

Graham Chalmers of the Harrogate Advertiser.

There are, of course, reasons for the thickening of traffic which may be amenable to solution.

Motorists could be taught to be more decisive on the road?

They could be fined for giving right of way to cars which don’t have a right of way?

They could be taught how to use mini-roundabouts?

Or, perhaps, it’s up to the authorities to have a look at the smarter organisation of existing junctions?

For example, it’s clear to anyone who drives through Bond End at Knaresborough that the traffic lights system itself often acts as an obstacle to flow even when traffic is light.