IN response your report about accidents on the A1079 ('Father's death trap road plea", April 6) you may wish to look at the recently published guide by EuroRAP, who do a risk rating of Britain's roads.

Nearly all the major routes in East Yorkshire rate as either medium or medium/high risk - including the A1079.

The high rate of population growth of the East Riding is one of the causes of the growing congestion on roads such as the A1079.

In ten years to 2003 the population grew by 22,000, making it the second fastest growing area in Great Britain outside London.

However, during this same ten-year period the capacity of the A1079 has not been increased at all.

Between 1997 and 2002 the number of serious injuries in road accidents in East Riding rose by 18 per cent and deaths by more than 50 per cent.

Roundabouts and speed cameras may help, but these are sticking-plaster solutions, and are treating the symptoms, not the cause. They could worsen congestion.

We need to look at the underlying causes. The increase in population without any corresponding increase in road capacity or transport alternatives must be a factor.

The approval process for new housing developments should be more directly linked to investment in road infrastructure to reverse the increase in road accidents on the A1079 and other major routes in East Yorkshire.

Richard Borrie,

Algarth Rise, Pocklington.

Updated: 09:40 Wednesday, April 13, 2005