road pricing trials underway "your rights whatever"

[Itchy]

Cites:

Daily Mail Alert

The Times

Precis:

The £1.30 a mile has now gone up to at least £1.50 per mile and 'gas guzzlers' which encompass a great deal of ordinary cars will face the prospect of £2-£3 per mile green tax

Oh and the road trials are apparently already underway according to el reg


El-reg

The government seeing that GPS is weak will persue it with ANPR , more average speed cameras and 'optional' black boxes in cars for the 'convenience' of the car users.

Looks like Labour has solved the UK debt issue, (the 3 trillion dollar question) , ie lets tax everybody even more, since they can still afford to eat.



yeah right
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[igiyf]

got to do as the crown says..they own us

[Phoenix]

I was under the impression that the last time they spoke of it, after the million strong petition against it, was that they'd be doing it anyway and trials will be underway.

I won't be participating in it if it comes into effect, if that's by avoiding the pay lanes of the motorway or by not having a GPS box fitted, they won't get me paying any more on top of what I do now.

How exactly would a pay lane on the motorway work anyway, convert the hard shoulder to pay as you go? Dangerous for many reasons, removing hard shoulder from motorways is dangerous as it is, it's worked ok on the M42 because it's an extremely short section of motorway and has had millions spent on building emergency refuges.
It'd force HGVs permanently into what would effectively be lane 2 creating the blind spot issue for RHD trucks that causes so many accidents at the moment with LHD ones. Then there's the problem of the hard shoulder pay lane moving faster than the other 2 or 3 making the motorway into a bit of a free for all.




I still vote for infinitely stricter driving test standards and bans on further test attempts after accumulating too many fails or displaying a poor driving ability. A driving licence at the moment is effectively seen as a right, it shouldn't be, it should be like a degree, if you study for it and fail at the end or show yourself to be severely incapable during learning you should not be allowed to continue. If after learning you can't drive safely or legally on a consistent basis (ie not failing 10 tests and fluking 1) then you should not be allowed the licence and prevented from getting one for a reasonable period.

It'd shift people onto public transport for starters, and have a significant impact on bad driving. It'd probably also increase illegal drivers without licences, so if they finally sort out punishments for that, ie auctioning off cars or crushing them with no second chance and inprisonment for the offender, that'd decrease too. It's all common sense, but common sense is considered stupid these days.

[igiyf]

how many do you think fail there test 10 times?

as for bad driving,there isent That much about

[D O G]

[igiyf]

well Phoenix if you believe its not a right and more of a privilege road pricing per mile is part of the package...you may well have passed your license but to continue the practice of using that license..you have to obey the rules and regulations of the almighty crown..cant have one and not the other:P

[aaronb74]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Push bike ftw.

All it'll do is force people onto non-taxed methods of transport so they'll make eve less money from fuel tax. The goverment will just shoot themselves in the foot. Again.
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[Itchy]

[Mick_Rs]

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[Phoenix]

I agree with Aaronb74, a blanket ban after failing a couple of tests is not what I mean, people suffer from nerves or stress or just bad instruction, unlucky situations on the test. After a string of failures they should be subject to a temporary test ban, unless they demonstrate an inability to drive safely then the ban should be considered as to whether it's for longer or permanent.

There are many people who take multiple test attempts to pass, some still fail to pass, though 10 was just a random number I chose, I would quite like to see the statistics on it, but I'm sure they're available from the DSA. As aaron says, these learner in TV shows are the sort of people that should never be allowed on the road as they pose an ongoing danger to everyone, pedestrians and road users. How can the government claim to be so responsible and committed to reducing road related deaths to zero when they allow this.

To Mad-Man, when I say I won't be agreeing to this road pricing scheme, the proposal is optional toll lanes, so easily opted out of if you want. If it becomes necessary on all motorways, I'll no doubt just avoid the motorways, if it becomes necessary on all roads, then it'd be time to decide whether it's worth disregarding the law or giving up driving (or leaving the country).