Safe Speed Forums

Motorists move towards road-pricing
(Filed: 01/07/2006)

Public support for road-pricing has increased in the past two years and nearly half of motorists support a road-pricing scheme using telematics technology (ie, the car communicating with cameras, satellites, etc), according to the RAC Report on Motoring 2006.

Drivers are now so fed up with congestion (79 per cent believe it is getting worse) that they are prepared to do a deal with the Government on road-pricing, but only in return for concessions on motoring taxes and improvements in public transport and the road network.

The nuts and bolts of a road-pricing scheme are uncertain. Feasibility studies conducted by the Government suggest that a charge of up to £1.34 a mile on the busiest roads at peak time may be the answer. Two thirds of motorists believe that an annual mileage charge is the most effective method, while 55 per cent think that charges for using town centres are unfair.

The same number of drivers believes that higher charges during rush-hours are unjust, as is a charge for the use of motorways.

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) is likely to underpin any charging system and the RAC's report points out that the advanced technology offered by GPS should be tailored to the advantage of motorists, to sweeten the road-pricing pill.

The examples of driver-friendly, GPS-enabled technology include theft-tracking devices, which 87 per cent of motorists would like to have, rerouting technology to avoid hold-ups and a panic button for emergencies.

Two thirds of motorists believe that an annual mileage charge is the most effective method, while 55 per cent think that charges for using town centres are unfair.

The same number of drivers believes that higher charges during rush-hours are unjust, as is a charge for the use of motorways.

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) is likely to underpin any charging system...

Eh? It's unrelialbe* (especially around trees) and owned by the yanks!
How can they even think that?

* Of course it's not completely unreliable, it's good enough for general navigation as long as you expect a few blips here and there, but for road pricing those blips will cost you.

I think it's going to be another computer cock-up by the government

I am not normally a conspiracy theorist but I believe that congestion is being deliberately made worse so that motorists will accept a new form of taxation to try and alleviate a problem that should not exist.

So why are motorists so lame. With all this crap being poured down our throats all the time why do we not just say, "shut the f*ck up and give us decent roads that we have already paid for a dozen times over already...end of"

Spy tax? A tax to be spied on...

I don't have an ideological opposition to road pricing - why shouldn't those who use more, pay more - fuel duty is not adequate for this. However I have serious reservation about whether this government could implement such a scheme without major problems.

I wouldn't mind if road pricing meant doing an average 10,000 miles cost about £200, and road tax was abolished. However I suspect that that would not be profitable enough and the temptation for continued increases would be too great.

... fuel duty is not adequate for this ...

Personally, I'd question the sample size of the of the people in the survey.

Please could you expand a bit on why you think it is not adequate. It seems to me that the current system of the RFL plus fuel tax is a pretty good balance and is easy to collect.