YET another unnecessary death has occurred on the A64 (September 9). This time a 19-year-old woman has lost her life and a 53-year-old woman has suffered serious injuries.

We do not know the details of the accident yet but one thing is certain - it was avoidable. If only the authorities had listened to the Evening Press and the local people who participated in your Close The Gaps campaign.

My husband travels that road every day to work and my 15-year-old daughter is driven along there daily in the school bus to Tadcaster Grammar.

If either one of them is late home I can't help worrying and wonder if they have been involved in one of the many accidents that happen on that stretch of road between Tadcaster and Copmanthorpe.

Why must that gap be kept open when the others nearby have been closed? Could it be that the businesses on the west-bound carriageway will not allow it to be closed? This is what all the locals think.

And, if this is the case, how many more people have to be killed or injured before they will see sense?

It takes no time at all to go up to the Copmanthorpe junction across the bridge and back down the A64.

Surely this small amount of time added to a journey is worth it if it saves a life.

Ann Devine,

Moor Lane,

Copmanthorpe, York.

Updated: 10:20 Monday, September 16, 2002