WHILE fuming for 15 minutes in the queue on the A420 to enter the new traffic light system at the Botley interchange roundabout, I had plenty of time to reflect on the possible reasons for the delay.

It appeared to me that the timings of the lights were adjusted in such a way that traffic built up on the inbound A420, while the usual queue to leave the southbound A34 was far smaller than previously.

If this situation persists, then traffic will leave the A420 at Cumnor and use Cumnor Hill to access the Botley Road and the park and ride.

Is this what the planners want? It will inevitably mean more traffic on local roads which are used at that time by children going to school and must surely represent an added hazard in a residential area.

Or is it the new policy to keep southbound traffic moving quickly on the A34 as a major through route and just tough luck on the local commuters?

Obviously, it takes time to adjust the timing of the lights but surely such a gross miscalculation that it caused the longest tailbacks that I can remember in 20 years on the A420, other than when there has been an accident, is indefensible and needs immediate correction?

The lights at Hinksey Hill, outside the Cowley car works and the Headington hamburger have caused none of these problems, but have eased traffic flow at once.

We have even had the replacement of the Wolvercote viaduct brilliantly done, with very little disruption.

All the more reason why the engineers at the Botley roundabout should reconfigure their timings or the local residents might just begin to think it really is a new policy.

MARTIN ROBERTS, Stone Close, Botley, Oxford