HAWORTH Main Street was also congested prior to the opening of its by-pass in 1974, which alleviated the problem at least where buses were concerned.

Of course, our traditional roads were never intended to cope with modern traffic. Faced with increasing and faster road use, Keighley in 1920 became the first local authority to seek a ten miles per hour speed limit in its main thoroughfares.

The press luridly described how pedestrians were having “to run the gauntlet to escape being knocked down by reckless motorcyclists or motor vehicles”, and how it was “no uncommon experience” to be “bespattered from head to foot by the filth thrown up”. Shop windows were “splashed out of all recognition” and hoardings “disfigured a couple of yards high by mud”.

The Keighley Motor Club glibly suggested that “the cure is to put the roads in such condition that water does not collect in pools to splash”, while the Ministry of Transport turned down Keighley’s application for restrictions.

The photograph has been supplied by Mr Ian Brierley, of Bridgehouse Lane, Haworth.