The Safe Speed road safety campaign called today for a change in the traffic light sequence on faster roads. The standard three second amber phase simply isn't long enough for drivers to stop comfortably from much over 40mph, yet traffic lights are increasingly common on 60 and 70mph roads.

It has long - and rightly - been considered that the amber phase should always remain the same length. This is absolutely essential is driver are to be able to judge if they have time to stop when the lights change.

But a 3 second amber on roads with 60mph or 70mph traffic does not allow drivers sufficient time to stop comfortably. Red light violations are likely to be much more frequent on high speed roads as drivers are caught out when the lights change.

At Safe Speed we have long been concerned about the problems, but have now devised a complete and original solution that requires no new traffic light hardware. We simply need to add a green and amber 3 second 'change warning to the existing sequence. The new sequence becomes:

GREEN Go if safeGREEN + AMBER (3 seconds) Prepare to stop AMBER (3 seconds) Stop if you can do so safely RED Stop RED + AMBER Prepare to go GREEN Go if safe

This could be fitted to most sets of traffic lights with a simple, low cost software change. The extra three seconds of warning is a vital safety measure for traffic lights installed on faster roads. The new scheme would also require a public information campaign.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign(www.safespeed.org.uk) said: "We have long been concerned that 3 seconds of amber simply is not enough on faster roads. Fortunately we have found a complete solution and trials should start without delay."

"Department for Transport is far from 'on the ball' with road safety matters these days and it is really quite astonishing that it falls to organisations like Safe Speed to solve these sorts of problems."

"It's a simple matter of a quick and complete solution to a genuine public safety issue."

"Until we get some changes, the least we can do is warn drivers that approaching a set of traffic lights at much over 40mph simply isn't safe."