WILL drivers ever stop complaining -- speed cameras, traffic calming, petrol prices, car prices, road works -- just what is it they want?

Straight, unrestricted roads, without lights or roundabouts perhaps, where super cars can travel at up to 200mph and no pedestrians, cyclists, invalid scooters and horse-riders to consider or respect? And there are bound to be those who don't want to share the roads with anyone. Maybe they would be happier in the wilderness of Canada, or the outback of Australia.

Or do they want petrol at 50p a gallon, free and unrestricted parking everywhere, cars without duty, and driving licences for everyone who wants one? Then we could have 50 million vehicles on our roads instead of 30 million, no money in the pot for better roads and public transport, and where everybody just sits around and crawls around, waiting for someone to give way, and choking, raging, horn blasting and boiling-over, all at the same time.

However, amid all the complaining from hard-done-to drivers, there are two comments which offer a solution to the predicament we all face, but only for those who are willing enough and desperate enough to look for it.

David Wood, co-ordinator of the Tenants Association at Bolton Market Hall, says: "It will not put us on a level playing field." But then, when have Britain's drivers ever wanted a level playing field? Everybody and everything has had to move out or move over to accommodate drivers -- children, pedestrians; cyclists, buses, trains; homeowners, businesses, wildlife and the environment. So let's not talk about a level playing field unless it can satisfy the needs of everyone.

Then Fred Eckersley, of Cheriton Drive, Bolton, complains the motorist is being bled even further. Be serious, the only people who have been bled by our car dependency are the people who have been killed and injured on our roads. Since the end of the Second World War, 325,660 have been killed and close to 18 million injured. (Figures from DETR)

That is surely enough blood to turn every road in Britain into a river of red, or enough bodies to cover every football pitch in the country. And if that's a sick and gruesome thought, it's nothing compared to what the victims have had to suffer. And, sadly, because we are still so car dependant, speed dependant, selfish and inconsiderate, they continue to suffer, and we will all continue to suffer, until there is a change of heart and mind.

Allan Ramsay

Ashcombe Drive

Radcliffe