Safe Speed Forums

Interesting snippet on Prof. Begg and 4x4 use in the IAM journal this month.

Begg states that people who drive vehicles (refering to 4x4s) that kill and polute the environment should pay higher taxes.

totally agree - but where's the proof that 4x4s kill more than there share and surely there are plenty of 4x4s doing avg. 40mpg+ (say a Nissan X-trail) which would be no less efficient that an equiv. sized estate car say an E-class estate.

the man's gone nuts.

They already pay more tax if they have a higher fuel consumption. The problem with all this is that it's impossible to define in legal terms the kind of thing they want to discriminate against - simply taxing vehicles with all-wheel-drive more highly would be ludicrous, and would just lead to 2WD SUVs like they have in the US.

What may happen is the introduction of higher VED bands for vehicles with high CO2 emissions. But the kind of person who buys a Lexus 4x4 won't be bothered about that - it will just discriminate against people who need a big vehicle for towing, but don't do a lot of miles in it.


Was he ever anything else?

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Cars that polute more pay more tax....its called
Fuel duty

The guy has been off the rails for years. The last time he was on TV bleating on about 4x4s he was just rambling on.

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Speed camera policy Kills