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That's the inescapable conclusion of the latest report by the Road Users' Alliance, which includes the RAC Foundation and other motoring organisations among its members. The "Road Fact File 2004" contains some eye-watering arithmetic.

The RUA claims that UK motorists fork out something like £84 billion per year in taxes and duties of various kinds; in 2003 the investment in the road infrastructure was £6.7 billion.

While 92% of all passenger travel is by road (compared with 6.5% by rail), the major road network has increased by less than 200 miles - or 0.06% - in the last ten years. And in the rather arcane calculation which considers the length of national motorway networks in Europe with each country's GDP, the UK rates 14th out of 15.