Why didn't you ask the question

which might just have saved an awful lot of money?

There was a story in this morning's paper about a roundabout which is not fit for purpose. Big vehicles cannot get safely around it. Now that the word is out they are having to do lengthy and cost detours.

There is apparently no real concern relating to their use of that stretch of road. It was not put in place to stop them from using it. The roundabout was the alternative to traffic lights in a semi-rural location. It made sense...but the design does not make sense.

The roundabout was apparently designed by council engineers. Apparently they failed to ask one of the most basic questions of all. Who uses that intersection and for what purpose? It would not have taken more than a minute to discover that some very heavy vehicles use it. Those vehicles carry heavy and awkward loads.

The drivers of these vehicles did raise the issue but council engineers being council engineers they did not listen. It was going to be "all right" - except that it is not.

It makes me wonder if they will now listen to concerns about a problem near me. There is a local railway crossing at issue here. There are four stop signs in that location as well as the boom gates, a central island and a pedestrian island. One of the streets leading into the crossing already has turning restrictions. The other is used as something of a race track in peak hours as well as having some people park all day and catch the train to work. 

Now they want to put in traffic lights. Traffic lights won't stop the problem of people in cars queuing across the lines in a dangerous manner. They may prevent some people from failing to stop at the line but there will still be people who believe that, unless the boom gates are down, you can cross and often at speed. 

I need to use that crossing. I do not like it but there is no choice sometimes. Do I want traffic lights? Will it solve the problems? 

A resident of that street, a now retired railway man with an incisive mind has a much simpler and much, much cheaper solution to the problem. Even I can see it would work well. He has drawn detailed plans with detailed arguments. He has data to support the proposal. The council is asking for "feedback about the proposed changes". Will they listen to J...? He is not holding his breath and neither is the other retired railway traffic engineer he has consulted.

We will probably end up spending a great deal of money because those responsible for implementation of a solution are not asking the right questions - or listening to solutions.