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No one should be in the least bit surprised that despite massive public opposition the Government is pressing on with its plans for road pricing, with trials of cars fixed with the dreaded "black boxes" set to begin in the next few weeks. Yes, the move may be so unpopular that it's being muttered Ruth Kelly will lose her safe seat over it, but in the wider scheme of things road pricing is perhaps the purest of new Labour policy.
Personally, as a detoxed driving addict, I have no objection to road pricing but, setting schadenfreude to one side, I do wish the Government would be honest about its motives: it's an incremental tax on driving, pure and simple, and will have little real impact on either congestion or pollution. Indeed, it may make some of these things worse, because by charging drivers more for taking routes that are already busy, the great metallic boil will be lanced and the automotive pus will run all over the place.
The less costly alternatives, of either introducing motorway tolls, or hiking petrol taxes, are far too simple for senescent new Labour; besides, they wouldn't be as easy to garland with the fake green laurels of environmentalism. Road pricing looks like a comprehensive way of managing driving, provided drivers can discriminate between journeys that are frivolous and those that matter, but this is unrealistic: what is essential and what is non-essential car use is as obscure to the people behind the wheel as it is to legislators.
But that doesn't matter, nor does it matter that the black-box scheme will cost a fortune. The Government loves huge new infrastructure, and computer schemes that go way over budget and delivery date - how else is it going to keep the PFI gravy train running? It won't have escaped the bean counters in the Treasury that despite rocketing petrol prices and looming recession, Britain's driving addicts simply can't kick the habit, so road pricing is the perfect revenue generator. our society has to decide whether driving a car is a fundamental right - with attendant liberties - or simply another sumptuary choice, subject to being curtailed if it's too damaging to the rest of the commonwealth. Until this fundamental issue is resolved - and woe betide the mainstream politician who dares to propose the latter - all anti-congestion schemes will be ineffective. even those of us who supported the London scheme now have to concede that the will to drive is stronger than any poxy charge. Indeed, increased driving taxes may well incite the maddened drivers, in the same way that building more roads only feeds their Tarmac habit.
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Reader views (3)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
I can see the day coming when I will have to sleep in my car in my employers carpark four nights a week, instead of driving the 60 miles round trip everyday because I cant afford the petrol and the road pricing cost.
Will I have to pay for this a well in the near future because I m taking up precious space on the public highway? And yes a companies 'private' carpark still constitutes the public highway if you check!
- Peter Killick, Hartlepool United Kingdom
It's not just cars, it's amazing how we come to accept the abnormal. Our forefathers would have run screaming into their cottage gardens at the sight and sound of juggernauts larger (and heavier) than their dwelling places thundering past their front doors. We have given up so much to the internal combustion engine. Peace and quiet being the least of it. When you have driven the long miles to your rural idyll, a late evenings walk to the pub is impossible as the narrow lanes are regularly swept by the passage of blacked out SUVs travelling as fast as possible. We have sacrificed our children's freedom to roam the countryside for the dubious thrill of high speed motoring.
- Julian Smith, Rochdale
And what, Will, of the remote rural drivers like me? I would face a 12 mile round trip to catch an intermittent bus service from my village to the local town. How am I supposed to cope with a very dicky knee and no public transport? Thanks for your help.
- Mikko Takala, Drumnadrochit, Scotland
