Mind you, they have their uses: Late one afternoon, I left a client's in Skipton in my Range Rover, crossed the Pennines and came down to Harrogate.There I was stopped by a police car who asked me where I'd come from and informed me that the road I'd just used had been closed to all traffic at lunchtime, three hours earlier.
I thought it was a bit quiet! Because I'd come out of a side road in Skipton, I'd missed the barrier!