Just what can be done about our roads? It’s a question that is almost certainly going to fox the brightest of our transport mandarins as they look at the problem that is Headington.

The problem, as anyone who lives there or drives through it regularly will know, is that it is struggling to cope with the levels of traffic.

Today we report on a new study of the area’s traffic problems. It reveals that in one 12-hour snapshot there were almost 80,000 vehicles travelling through Headington and that there is no silver bullet.

To be fair there rarely is an easy solution in any urban area.

It is nigh on impossible, politically or physically, to charge in with the wrecking ball and clear a load more road space.

And Headington certainly fits that category.

The report indicates that as a whole traffic levels have remained static for the past decade.

Oxfordshire County Council has looked at what it can do but essentially those efforts have meant it has had to run to stand still.

And this is before we even begin to factor in the likely traffic increase once Barton West – or Barton Park if you wish – is built.

Unless there is a radical idea that is about to drop out of the blue, it would appear the only real impact on the number of vehicles will be the traffic itself.

Traffic can be very much like water, flowing into the course of least resistance, meaning drivers will stop clogging up Headington only when the jams become too much for them.