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As the August bank holiday approaches, no doubt the good folk of Exeter are anticipating another nightmare weekend of traffic as the Exeter by-pass grinds to s standstill under the onslaught of Brummies heading to or returning from the West Country. The same will be true of pinch-points throughout our trunk-road network.

Of course, the problem is that our roads suffer from the classic 80/20 syndrome. 80 per cent of drivers try simultaneously to occupy 20 per cent of the nation’s road network. And that happens every day.

I seldom use motorways or trunk roads. Instead I mainly use minor and unclassified roads that weave their way alongside arterial routes and are often the ‘old’ roads to the selfsame destinations but which progress has relegated to mere capillaries.

Yet they still represent some 80 per cent of our total road mileage, but occupied at most by only 20 per cent of the traffic, and, quite frequently, none at all.

OK, so using minor roads might mean a few more miles, but I would bet that my zig-zagging, traffic-free routes use less petrol. At least for every squirt of the injector I cover a few more yards, rather than merely adding another puff of CO2 to the atmosphere without any corresponding benefit.

And I would also bet that my journeys take no longer. For sure, motorways and trunk roads (A303 excepted) can at times be faster, but most times they’re not. And whereas drivers see only trucks and tail-lights, I see tall skies, open countryside and pleasant people who are not forever on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

You can keep your sat-navs – at least I know where I’m going. When
most of you arrive at your destination you have no idea how you got there. I dream of the day when Uncle Sam pulls the plug, and millions of British motorists suddenly find themselves with no more idea of their whereabouts than the apocryphal tribe of short people consigned to live in long grass.