Story for front cover 2

The story that we decided we were going to do on this front cover was going to be something that was happening in portishead and that would give information to the readers. We decided to do this because this was another feature that we found from our research that people liked to see in their local newspapers.

We decided to do a story about major traffic lights being shut down in Portishead. We got our inspiration from a set of traffic lights that had actually been shut down in a busy place in Portishead. We thought this would be a good story to do as it ment a lot to the people in Portishead and they were always interested in what was going to happen.

Writing the story;

We started off by saying what had happened since the lights had been turned off.

Traffic lights near Waitrose petrol station have caused car collisions and major traffic jams over the past couple of weeks.

We then moved on to the history of the traffic lights as this was normally done in newspaper stories.

In early August, the set of traffic lights were covered up and were made non functional due to
increasing waiting time and driver frustration. Without these traffic lights, drivers are expected to pass through them at a slow speed, maximum of 20mph and give way to any cars passing their entrance.

We then thought we would move onto giving information about the traffic lights and why they have been shut off.

The lights are only being shut off temporarily for a months trial to see how drivers get on with the system having no lights to guide them. This should help prevent traffic building up through the high street at peak times during the day and stop it building up by the cabstand road.

We then decided to put in a quote from a person who was quite involved in the traffic lights.

Mr. Red, head of Portishead transport, said "we were getting continuous e-mails and phone calls complaining about the traffic lights. The Portishead community are very important to us, so there was no other option but to shut them off completely."

We then thought we'd follow on from this by putting in what effect the traffic lights not being there have had on drivers and traffic on the roads.

Since the traffic lights have been shut off there have been numerous amounts of collisions between drivers not giving way. It is important to inform people that at this moment with the lights turned off everyone must give way to other drivers passing them.

We then put in what a near by resident had to say about the lights being shut off and what it's like for someone who lives on one of the roads that does get very busy.

Mrs Walter, a nearby resident stated that “ever since the lights have been turned off there is a reduced amount of traffic along my road and it flows a lot more easier.”

We then summed up the story and put in what could be the possibilities for the future.

If the number of collisions are reduced then it might be that the traffic lights are taken out for good and road signs and signals will be put in place to direct who has the right of way. This will then make it a lot more clearer for drivers using this area.