MY frustration at being immersed in one of York's traffic jams the other day actually took a turn for the manic.

I quivered a smile which erupted into a guffaw. What caused my hilarity was recalling your headline of Friday June 27: 'York roads are getting safer and less congested'.

Earlier I had seen two buses, three cars and numerous bikes jump red lights and two pedestrians nearly getting run over. And here I was firmly stuck in traffic!

Which part of fairy land do the council statisticians come from?

What was a chilling fact, however, was that the city's death rate or serious injury level had dropped from 139 to 116. That is unacceptable in a safe society which we claim to live in.

Phil Shepherdson,

Chantry Close,

Woodthorpe, York.

Updated: 10:28 Monday, June 30, 2003