I read that once again the A31 was closed last weekend due to an accident within the New Forest.

I can remember the A31 as being a simple main road, and at Picket Post it was so quiet we did not even have to wait to turn into it from the Burley direction.

It was also unfenced and often people would stop to picnic.

Now it is one of the busiest routes in the area, with traffic exceeding the 70mph speed limit, with a double carriage in both directions.

Many years ago I wrote to the local press that there needs to be a speed reduction along this stretch of road. I suggested 50mph. Some of your readers thought of me as some kind of spoilsport.

I ask, what would you prefer, a steady flow of traffic at 50mph, or perhaps 60mph, or held up for hours on end, through accidents?

And for those who want it turned into a motorway, it will not happen. The New Forest is protected, or at least meant to be. You do wonder sometimes!

Richard Grant, Burley.