OXFORD ROADS SIR,—Mr. Robert Blake's article points out, very properly,
that nobody knows what the traffic. pattern in Oxford is. The Government, the City Council and the University should combine to find out.
This is not easy to do. Obvious!), vehicles cannot be halted merely to take details for a census : con- fusion within the city would be worse than it is. But their registration numbers could be recorded without stopping them, and the owners traced after- wards to find out details about their journeys. Ex- pensive and difficult perhaps, but it seems the best method.
The task lends itself to a rather fanciful division among the three authorities. A questionnaire will have to be sent out. The Civil Service can design this admirably. Somebody will have to stand in the rain to take car numbers. The disputing dons, are, we hope, earnest and devoted seekers after truth. They will be just the men. The City Council, of course, will pay for it all.
In practice the scheme might need a very different organisation. But it would be worth doing. —Yours faithfully,
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