[ChrisBuer]

All,

This is an important post as ultimately it could affect all of us, so please take a few minutes to read this.

At present Oliver Carsten at Leeds University is developing “Intelligent Speed Adaptation” (ISA) which you may or may not have heard about. This is basically a black box in the car that will do a number of things:

1. It’ll be able to cap your speed in speed restricted zones, i.e. the car will not go over 40mph in a 40 zone.

2. It’ll allow the government to track each car and develop road charging based on the time of day you travel, distance and frequency.

This technology, if allowed to press ahead could be in cars within the next 8 years (a reliable source has informed me of this!). Oh and believe me, they have a whole fleet of Skoda Octavia's out there at the moment with this equipment working in it!

I appreciate that you might think capping the speed of cars on the roads is a good thing, less accidents maybe? But let me tell you that it will just lead to a greater number of “bad” drivers. Plus speed does not kill, inappropriate speed does!!

The youth of today will grow up learning that they only need to keep their foot flat to the floor and the car will do the rest. Have you ever been in a 30mph zone and felt that travelling at 30mph were too fast? Appropriate speed should be applied to all roads we travel on, not a speed dictated by a piece of technology! Also, should we have to be charged each time we drive our cars?

As driving enthusiasts we can do something and sign the petition below on the Downing Street website. It already has over 300,000 signatures and I urge you to take a moment of your time to sign this.

Website link - We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy.

The advanced driving clubs I belong to are urging the government to spend the time and money on this research and put it to better use, such as an improved L test or improved driving training throughout someone’s driving career.

If the mod’s feel this is important enough to make a sticky, then please do so.

Thanks for reading and safe motoring!

Chris.

[RVW]

Already signed it weeks ago But it is still worthwhile plugging it
Smacks too much like big brother Wonder why COMMUNISM was overthrown as a way of ruling

[James]

at least there would be no speed cameras

[Fin]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crammy (original)

at least there would be no speed cameras

Maybe no more speed cameras, but as more civil liberties get eroded, one at a time you can bet there will be more 'normal' cameras watching your every move.

This whole proposed scheme just seems typical of our 'government'; poorly thought out, over-priced, inefficient, against the public's wishes(?). And you can bet we will end up paying the bill for their staggering incompetence.

I've signed the petition, and forwarded it to everyone I know. Whether Downing Street will take a blind bit of notice of it though is yet to be seen, but I'm not holding my breath. I just hope come the next election, the public see sense and vote them out.

[CC07ERS]

big brother again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ChrisBuer]

You can bet your bottom dollar that if the government think it’ll be a potential election loser, then they’ll not proceed with it!

To put it into perspective, this petition already has over 300,000 signatures and the next biggest on has around 1000!

[RVW]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fin (original)

. I just hope come the next election, the public see sense and vote them out.

They want voting out not just for this but a raft of other things. Stealth taxes for one and number two a very big 2 BROWN

[Fin]

Quote: Originally Posted by ChrisBuer (original)

You can bet your bottom dollar that if the government think it’ll be a potential election loser, then they’ll not proceed with it!

To put it into perspective, this petition already has over 300,000 signatures and the next biggest on has around 1000!

I honestly don't think the are that smart.

It is a good turn out for the petition though.

[pprovart]

355K Votes. WOW.. I picked this up 10 days ago with 90K signatures...

Doing some quick Maths the 355K votes represents about 1.225% of the total population with Driving licenses.

Bearign in midn not everyone has email, internet or is bothered to sign even if they wanted to, then i woudl say this is a pretty significant representation of the population and something the government SHOULD listen to..

But then, they will do exactly what they always do and say "So What " Implement vehicle tracking anyhow with a "What you going to do" attitude...

See what other interesting statistics you cna make up from
Transport 2000 - Facts Page

[Freon Warrior]

The people of this 'fair isle' have had enough of this bunch. Tax and spend, its in heir blood, govenment spending causes inflation which then has to be controlled by interest hikes! The most recent one was last week I think............

[Shaun]

I belive laws are being pased cuurently relating to the congestion zone charges but have a direct link to this kind of activity back door politics at play.

[J1JPE]

Done

[ALD0]

Done, time to leave this stupid country if they start doing things like this!
Australia is so tempting at present!

[LMB]

Can't see it happening. They make too much money from motorists for them to just loose that revenue in one fell swoop. Then again they could tie in it with congestion charges across the country.

Time to leave when crazy stuff like that starts to happen.

[ALD0]

Here is the automated reply that probably evertone got from "Tony Blair"
Some of I can see the logic, others I can't...

Thank you for taking the time to register your views about road pricing on the Downing Street website.

This petition was posted shortly before we published the Eddington Study, an independent review of Britain's transport network. This study set out long-term challenges and options for our transport network.

It made clear that congestion is a major problem to which there is no easy answer. One aspect of the study was highlighting how road pricing could provide a solution to these problems and that advances in technology put these plans within our reach. Of course it would be ten years or more before any national scheme was technologically, never mind politically, feasible.

That is the backdrop to this issue. As my response makes clear, this is not about imposing "stealth taxes" or introducing "Big Brother" surveillance. This is a complex subject, which cannot be resolved without a thorough investigation of all the options, combined with a full and frank debate about the choices we face at a local and national level. That's why I hope this detailed response will address your concerns and set out how we intend to take this issue forward. I see this email as the beginning, not the end of the debate, and the links below provide an opportunity for you to take it further.

But let me be clear straight away: we have not made any decision about national road pricing. Indeed we are simply not yet in a position to do so. We are, for now, working with some local authorities that are interested in establishing local schemes to help address local congestion problems. Pricing is not being forced on any area, but any schemes would teach us more about how road pricing would work and inform decisions on a national scheme. And funds raised from these local schemes will be used to improve transport in those areas.

One thing I suspect we can all agree is that congestion is bad. It's bad for business because it disrupts the delivery of goods and services. It affects people's quality of life. And it is bad for the environment. That is why tackling congestion is a key priority for any Government.

Congestion is predicted to increase by 25% by 2015. This is being driven by economic prosperity. There are 6 million more vehicles on the road now than in 1997, and predictions are that this trend will continue.

Part of the solution is to improve public transport, and to make the most of the existing road network. We have more than doubled investment since 1997, spending £2.5 billion this year on buses and over £4 billion on trains - helping to explain why more people are using them than for decades. And we're committed to sustaining this investment, with over £140 billion of investment planned between now and 2015. We're also putting a great deal of effort into improving traffic flows - for example, over 1000 Highways Agency Traffic Officers now help to keep motorway traffic moving.

But all the evidence shows that improving public transport and tackling traffic bottlenecks will not by themselves prevent congestion getting worse. So we have a difficult choice to make about how we tackle the expected increase in congestion. This is a challenge that all political leaders have to face up to, and not just in the UK. For example, road pricing schemes are already in operation in Italy, Norway and Singapore, and others, such as the Netherlands, are developing schemes. Towns and cities across the world are looking at road pricing as a means of addressing congestion.

One option would be to allow congestion to grow unchecked. Given the forecast growth in traffic, doing nothing would mean that journeys within and between cities would take longer, and be less reliable. I think that would be bad for businesses, individuals and the environment. And the costs on us all will be real - congestion could cost an extra £22 billion in wasted time in England by 2025, of which £10-12 billion would be the direct cost on businesses.

A second option would be to try to build our way out of congestion. We could, of course, add new lanes to our motorways, widen roads in our congested city centres, and build new routes across the countryside. Certainly in some places new capacity will be part of the story. That is why we are widening the M25, M1 and M62. But I think people agree that we cannot simply build more and more roads, particularly when the evidence suggests that traffic quickly grows to fill any new capacity.

Tackling congestion in this way would also be extremely costly, requiring substantial sums to be diverted from other services such as education and health, or increases in taxes. If I tell you that one mile of new motorway costs as much as £30m, you'll have an idea of the sums this approach would entail.

That is why I believe that at least we need to explore the contribution road pricing can make to tackling congestion. It would not be in anyone's interests, especially those of motorists, to slam the door shut on road pricing without exploring it further.

It has been calculated that a national scheme - as part of a wider package of measures - could cut congestion significantly through small changes in our overall travel patterns. But any technology used would have to give definite guarantees about privacy being protected - as it should be. Existing technologies, such as mobile phones and pay-as-you-drive insurance schemes, may well be able to play a role here, by ensuring that the Government doesn't hold information about where vehicles have been. But there may also be opportunities presented by developments in new technology. Just as new medical technology is changing the NHS, so there will be changes in the transport sector. Our aim is to relieve traffic jams, not create a "Big Brother" society.

I know many people's biggest worry about road pricing is that it will be a "stealth tax" on motorists. It won't. Road pricing is about tackling congestion.

Clearly if we decided to move towards a system of national road pricing, there could be a case for moving away from the current system of motoring taxation. This could mean that those who use their car less, or can travel at less congested times, in less congested areas, for example in rural areas, would benefit from lower motoring costs overall. Those who travel longer distances at peak times and in more congested areas would pay more. But those are decisions for the future. At this stage, when no firm decision has been taken as to whether we will move towards a national scheme, stories about possible costs are simply not credible, since they depend on so many variables yet to be investigated, never mind decided.

Before we take any decisions about a national pricing scheme, we know that we have to have a system that works. A system that respects our privacy as individuals. A system that is fair. I fully accept that we don't have all the answers yet. That is why we are not rushing headlong into a national road pricing scheme. Before we take any decisions there would be further consultations. The public will, of course, have their say, as will Parliament.

We want to continue this debate, so that we can build a consensus around the best way to reduce congestion, protect the environment and support our businesses. If you want to find out more, please visit the attached links to more detailed information, and which also give opportunities to engage in further debate.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Blair

[envy]

Well where i live is one of the intial trial areas

If this comes into effect i dont think i could AFFORD to drive! Road Tax, VAT on Car, Fuel Tax... All kinds of taxes and now a pay per mile tax.

I dont see USA and China implementing such a structure!!

[Robboc]

what if my wife is able to hack it and see that my car is parked outside my girlfriends house.

[ALD0]

Quote: Originally Posted by Robboc (original)

what if my wife is able to hack it and see that my car is parked outside my girlfriends house.

I hope your joking!

[GCoopS]

Voted already, but glad to see this is gettin around