By Sylvia Carr, 17 June 2005 12:10
NEWS silicon.com readers have been vocal in their disapproval of the recently announced pay-as-you-drive system of road tax and now the majority also say the government will not succeed in launching it.
According to a recent reader poll, 65 per cent of respondents believe the government won't pull off the proposed car tax tracking scheme.
Around 25 per cent were less certain, saying it was 'too soon to tell'. And, like it or not, the remaining 10 per cent do believe the government will succeed in launching the scheme.
Controversy has surrounded the new road tax plan since it was announced by Transport Secretary Alistair Darling last week.
silicon.com readers have criticised it for everything from being yet another tax on motorists to Big Brother fears of the government tracking citizens' every move.
At the same time, a recent MORI survey - undertaken before Darling's announcement - revealed half of respondents support a road-user charging scheme, and nearly three-quarters would be happy having a 'black box' in their car to track their road usage.
The silicon.com poll consisted of responses from 411 readers.
Comments
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1. michael r. peters
the idea of tracking devices in any auto is anathma to me and any freedom loving individual. it's nobodys business where or when or who i'm visiting or traveling to. first they put computers in your car,( supposedly for the invironment, but really to be able to shut your car down with microwaves: a faraday cage and lead defeats this.) then a gps in your car, then a chip in you, zeig heil and welcome to the police state benjamin franklin said if you give up some freedom for alittle security, then eventually you'll have all the security and no freedom. LIVE FREE OR DIE !!!!!
2. H C Grant
The Pay-as-you-drive tax is simple economics. If you have a finite resource desired by more people than the resource can deliver then there must be some mechanism restricting access to the resource.[Charging] Currently the mechanism is peoples reluctance to drive on crowded roads. The PAUD method enables many more different charging schemes to be used which can be tailored to better suit drivers needs. The simple methods currently proposed will not deliver real benefits until it is possible to advance purchase some form of usage priority. For example, to purchase a 'priority' use of a route if a less than average journey time is needed. This would require instructions to be sent to other users on the route to enable the 'priority' user to pass through. A 'dynamic traffic light' system! Regular users could purchase 'season tickets' and other costs could be varied as do low cost air fares. The overall effect would be to reduce peak flows and increase offpeak flows so that road travel could become much less stressful and more safe.
3. Tim Jackson
H C Grant's "dynamic traffic light", although probably totally impractical could only ever work in urban areas. On motorways any attempt to run traffic at differential speeds would be a disaster in terms of both safety and road capacity.
I think Silicon.com is asking th e rwong question. I am sure the Governement is perfectly capable of *launching* the road use charging system, with the usual cost overruns. Whether it will achieve its declared aim is doubtful. The system itself and its administration and policing will put a significant extra cost burden on motorists, which may help reduce road use, but will also add to the cost of goods however efficiently transport is used.
The good news is that it will eliminate speed cameras, as speeding fines will be able to be automatically issued on the basis of road tracking records. There is another big revenue stream. And lots more work for police in detecting hacked, tampered-with or removed black boxes.