MOTORISTS have issued a heartfelt plea to Poole’s road chiefs – please get rid of the Fleetsbridge Roundabout traffic lights once and for all.

Since Monday, while engineers have been working to upgrade the existing traffic lights in a £75,000 scheme, motorists have been able to circle the busy roundabout without having to stop every few yards.

Driver Hugh Slavin, who works at the nearby Nuffield Industrial Estate, told the Daily Echo everyone he had spoken to had reported a huge reduction in time wasted on the roundabout.

Poole resident Hugh explained: “Since the lights have been off it has been absolutely lovely. We have got six weeks of pure bliss.

“They built this beautiful roundabout, at great expense, then put these lights on it.

“Ever since then it has been stop go, stop go, stop go – absolutely awful.

“It is particularly annoying at two in the morning when there’s no traffic but you get red light, red light, red light all the way around.

“Wouldn’t it be a lot better to return it to what it was supposed to be – a roundabout?”

Another motorist, who regularly drives through Fleetsbridge to work, said: “It is an absolute dream that these traffic lights have been turned off at the moment. Why put lights on a roundabout anyway? They are not needed.”

The work, likely to run into tens of thousands of pounds, is scheduled to finish on November 28.

Mr Slavin said: “If they just left things as they are now it would be wonderful. I wonder why the council is spending our money on renewing these lights which are clearly not needed?

“Taxpayers money is being spent just so we can all sit through delays when the lights come back.”

Borough of Poole traffic manager Steve Tite said one reason the lights were staying was because of safety issues.

“Before the traffic signals being made full time in 2000, there was an average of seven accidents a year at Fleetsbridge,” he explained.

Current figures show an average of just 2.68 accidents a year.

Mr Tite said: “This saves approximately £300,000 to the local economy per year and makes Poole’s roads far safer.

“The traffic signals also benefit less confident drivers.”

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