TRAFFIC calming measures proposed for Bolling Road in Ilkley appear to be giving a number of motorists the 'hump' in more ways than one.

One can understand the general frustration of drivers when they are faced almost daily with new motoring curbs; some of them, such as the humps between Burley-in-Wharfedale and Scalebor Park and the latest alteration at the railway bridge in Wheatley Lane, Ben Rhydding, seemingly totally unnecessary.

However, there are times when action has to be taken. Bolling Road has long been used as a rat run by drivers trying to avoid the congestion on the main road through Ilkley, and many of them have blatantly ignored the speed restrictions. The phrase ' an accident waiting to happen' springs to mind.

This was a main reason why Ilkley Community Against Speeding (ICAS) was formed and why this newspaper was swift to back the aim of persuading motorists to slow down. The Gazette sponsored both car stickers and signs on wheelie bins, while the ICAS members spent a number of days holding 30 mph signs at the roadside to drive the message home.

Sadly it has had little effect, and residents of Bolling Road feel that something more drastic has to be done.

No motorist likes speed humps (or 'sleeping policemen' as they used to be called), and we would suggest that these are used only on side roads where there is a problem. The proposals for Bolling Road involve speed tables, which effectively slow down drivers, but are without the jarring effect of humps. The question of whether 11 of these is something of an 'overkill' is a different issue. That concerns only the method of implementing the proposals.

In the final analysis, safety is of paramount importance, and as long as the measures taken to deal with it are as sensible as they are effective, then motorists will have to live with them. After all, if everyone had stuck to the speed limit in the first place, they wouldn't have been necessary.