FOR the second time in two weeks Kendal's rush hour traffic was brought to a virtual standstill by a technical fault with town centre traffic lights.

Angry motorists were trapped in a sluggish queue along the length of Highgate and Stricklandgate from 8am to 9am on Wednesday as a computer glitch caused Stricklandgate lights to linger on red for eight minutes, rather than the usual two, while flicking to green for just five seconds.

The scene was a repeat of the motoring mayhem that descended on the town for three days a fortnight ago when an electrical fault threw several sets of lights out of synch, a problem compounded by nearby road resurfacing works.

Rob Lawley of Cumbria County Council contractors Capita Infrastructure Consultants (CIC) said the problem was caused by a maintenance contractor who installed new software to control pedestrian crossings on Sandes Avenue on Tuesday evening.

"We realised this (Wednesday) morning there was an error in the software, it was a mistake, but by 9am it was put right."

The problematic software programme controls the town centre traffic lights in connection with recently installed sensors. As a result, if a pedestrian pushes the button on a Sandes Avenue crossing and walks over the road without waiting for the green man, the lights are not switched to red.

The system is designed to improve traffic flow yet Wednesday's teething problems did nothing for confidence in the technology.

"It's mad," said tradesman Ian Creasy, of Barrow-in-Furness, who was stuck in the jam for 35 minutes while en route to a job at Selside water treatment works. "We are supposed to be at work now. It has meant we are going to lose money."

Plasterer Lee Birch, who had spent 20 minutes getting from Gillinggate to Stricklangate, said: "It's very frustrating. The traffic is losing me about half an hour's work every day. They should put it (the one-way system) back to how it was. It was better than this."

By 8.15am, prompted by complaints from Sandes Avenue drivers, one police officer was logging the registration numbers of several frustrated motorists who jumped the red lights. The move drew fire from those in the Stricklandgate queue who wanted to see police directing traffic instead and by 8.40am two police officers did step into the road to take over from the faulty lights. Police spokesman Mike Smith said the force would "take all factors into consideration" to decide on the "appropriateness" of taking action against those who had driven through a red light.

Meanwhile, Mr Lawley believed the queues added weight to the push for pedestrainisation to force motorists to circumvent the town centre along Lowther Street.

"What it shows is the traffic levels in Kendal are so high that there isn't much spare capacity and when something goes wrong you get these long queues. It means I think we have got to come to the final solution sooner rather than later of pedestrianisation of Stricklandgate between the town hall and the library."

April 17, 2003 14:30