Madam,

The A44 is now officially the most dangerous road in Wales.

For a preview of how this will be tackled, nip over to Llangurig, and see the stretch just after Sweet Lamb.

A lorry went off the road there three years ago, and there is no rush to get rid of the “temporary” traffic lights and do the repairs.

What they have done is put up loads of signs saying the speed limit is now 30mph.

I suspect the strategy is to make the road so painfully slow that any accidents will be too slow to do any damage.

In my experience, the main cause of danger is people overtaking slower traffic.

There are few places to do this safely, hence all the accidents.

However, if the slower drivers were just slightly more thoughtful we would have a safe road.

How often do you see cars pull over to let the queue behind go past?Very rarely.Lorries are a little better, but most slow drivers are too selfish to give up 30 seconds for the benefit of a dozen people.

There are already plenty of parking spaces they could use, but an inexpensive “nudge” solution would be to put up signs encouraging slower drivers to pull in for a second.

A couple of extra parking places wouldn’t hurt either.Look at how much money and effort is put into catching speeding drivers (except in Blaenplwyf, where our community isn’t important).

Imagine how many lives would be saved, and journeys de-stressed, if we just encouraged problem drivers to be a little more considerate.

Am I an idealist for wishing for more peace, harmony and safety?

I’ve seen drivers in Crete pull over when just one car is behind.

Surely the people of mid Wales could be as thoughtful as those on the continent?

Yours etc

Tony Jones

Clos Y Dderwen

Blaenplwyf

Aberystwyth.