Anyone who drives along the M62 in West Yorkshire is bound to realise that things cannot be allowed to go on as they are. There are regular long delays caused by the sheer volume of traffic without the additional major crises triggered by even minor accidents. Too often progress virtually grinds to a halt.

And now comes the desperate prediction that the average "congestion time" of three hours, during which traffic is travelling nose-to-tail, could in ten years have been extended to nine hours.

Clearly something needs to be done to improve the traffic flow if the number of vehicles using the road expands at the rate being forecast by the Highways Agency. Even if it did not grow at all, the present situation is unacceptable to most users of the M62.

So it is vital that the Agency looks hard at the options available to it, as it is doing with the M62 Route Management Strategy which will be presented to the public in Centenary Square on June 27. It is particularly encouraging that the roadshow is seeking suggestions from people who use the motorway as to how things could be improved.

The chaos which followed the closure of a lane of the slip road at Chain Bar is an example of what can go wrong if local users of the road are not allowed to point out the pitfalls of a course of action. As many people as possible need to make sure they put their views forward in this important consultation exercise.