[PeterJ]

This government are proposing to force you into buying a tracking device for your car costing up to £200. It will record your every movement, where you have been, where you are and how fast you are going. It will transmit all this information to a central office where they will use it to send you a monthly bill – and most likely a monthly summons for speeding.

In a recent BBC trial, a Mum who used the car to take the kids to schools was billed £89 (in one month) as she used the car at peak times.

The minimum charge was £28 for a rural driver who hardly used the car.

If you are a company car driver, the bill with all your travel details will go to your company, so your EVERY move will be reported. What about when you go for a job interview?

If we don’t stop this now – all drivers will be paying far more than today and the government will be following your every move.

There is a petition to try and voice the opinion of the public on this issue. Please sign it and tell everybody you know with a request they also make their voice heard.

Thanks

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/

[smiffy]

Done !

[JulesM39]

Devil's advocate

It would be boring if everybody agreed so I am going to disagree just to get a bit of a debate going. Don't flame me, I'm a driver too!:rolleyes:
I don't support anything which has a principle of punishing people for driving. I'd rather we drove less because it became more convenient and cost-effective to do so.
But are all our journeys totally necessary? Apparently road usage has gone up by 77% in 1980.
Is there some kind of mysterious connection between increased car usage, useless public transport and the fact that many of us, myself included, seem to have eaten all the pies recently?:o
My top 2 tips for decreasing road congestion in London are
- give way to the bus, as the Highway Code tells you to. Loads of congestion is caused by vehicles refusing to let buses in or past, thereby delaying everyone behind the bus. And give way to emergency vehicles too.
- let drivers in from side turnings instead of driving past like a !!!!, and also leave a car-sized gap in front of turnings so that cars can get in and out.

When you've done that for a month, you can say that you've done your bit for responsible road use.

[PeterJ]

I agree - London is a special case and needs separate treatment. This is one area where the population and building density supports public transport.

The rest of the country is a different matter. Congestion is mostly the result of very poor traffic management schemes introduced by this government.

How many roundabouts have been fitted with traffic lights?

How many underpasses have been filled in and a pedestrian crossing with lights replaced it?

How many roads had their width reduced and speed limits lowered?

All of this reduces the capacity of our roads. Even if we reversed all the traffic control schemes put in place over the last 10 years we would reduce congestion noticeably.

The government are planning this carefully. For example, why did they release this report on a Friday?

We have major roadwork’s all over the place and Friday is always a congested day. You can imagine sitting in a jam listening to the radio and the news report comes on about road pricing. It will get more sympathy on a congested Friday than any other time.

Propaganda at work, don't fall for it.

[barryk]

What about the none contributors

Signed petition but also ask what is the government doing about all the drivers who don't pay car tax, insurance or who don't have a driving licence. Did I read up to 20% of drivers/vehicles don't comply in some way. Whatever the figute if we got them off the road it would have a major impact on congestions and the safety (or other implecations) for others. If they did pay then we wouldn't need all these extra charges!