I write in reply to David Smith (Letters, July 21, ‘Stop ignoring road signs’). He complains of ‘false courtesy becoming fashionable’. I would describe allowing drivers from a side road to enter a stream of traffic as courtesy.

I often try to leave a reasonable gap between myself and the vehicle in front when in a queue of traffic so that those coming out of a side route can comfortably do so. What is false or fashionable about it? It is simple good manners and consideration for others, attributes which Mr Smith seems to find passé and tedious. Presumably he would only act with politeness if a road sign told him to do so.

As to his Parkside Road scenario, there is and always was plenty of room for two cars to pass simultaneously. I could never understand why utterly unnecessary lights were installed there in the first place.

I feel one of the most irritating things about the roads nowadays is the plethora of pointless and expensive signage. European traffic planners are, in my opinion, correctly dreaming of streets freer from signs and directives where drivers can interact in a cooperative way by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head and eye contact but without the prescriptive orders of warning signs, prohibitions and restrictions.

On April 22 this year the Government (in ‘Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016’) gave local authorities the power to ‘tear down pointless road signs’ which have, according to official figures, increased by 83 per cent between 1993 and 2013.

That is the way to go - less signage and more responsibility returned to the road user.

David Snaith

Kendal