Thread: Drivers may pay per kilometre!

My Isuzu will shake it to bits in a short time anyway

Originally Posted by Rurover

If this is done properly, I think it could be a good thing.
By "properly" I mean, taking account of the weight and power of the vehicle, taking account of the range of different roads it travels on and taking account of the congestion on that road at the time.

So if you build all these factors into a road charge "formula", then you can not only start changing how we pay for roads and road maintenance, you also start to change people's driving habits.

So a busy road, used at a time when congestion is an issue will obviously attract a higher charge per kilometer than a minor road. In fact I would think that suburban roads and most secondary country roads would not attract any sort of charge.

The weight and power provisions would obviously mean that heavy trucks pay much more than say a two door runabout, and I would think there'd have to be provision for giving a "discount" to say electric cars.

By charging vehicles for their real impact on road wear and tear and on congestion, then people start thinking twice about running their vehicle into the centre of the city rather than taking public transport.
This is good for the environment, good for reducing congestion for people who HAVE to drive, and good for encouraging more active transport options (bikes, walking etc), and good for the public transport system (which we all subsidise as taxpayers).

It also drives more investment in say rail transport as an alternative to road transport, as trucks start paying the REAL cost of using public infrastructure...ie the playing field in levelled between the different modes of transport.

I see all this as a good thing, PROVIDED governments reduce fuel taxes and registration charges to reflect the fact that their revenue is now coming from the new road user charges.

Alan

So which of the above does the existing tax on fuel not already address.

If you drive a heavier, more powerful vehicle, you burn more fuel - you pay more tax.

If you drive on congested roads, you burn more fuel - you pay more tax.

If you drive longer distances, you burn more fuel - you pay more tax.

If you drive an electric car, walk or ride a bicycle, you don't burn any fuel - you don't pay any fuel tax.

If public transport was more efficient and more readily available to where people wanted / needed to go - more people would use it.

Rail has already all been sold off to private enterprise (largely now owned by companies who are involved in many different modes of transport). If those same companies could transport goods cheaper / more efficiently by rail than by road - they would already be doing it. Rail is really only economical for the transport of bulk commodities - very limited in suitability to general freight. Has been this way for many years and will never change.

And ................. "I see all this as a good thing, PROVIDED governments reduce fuel taxes and registration charges to reflect the fact that their revenue is now coming from the new road user charges".



Good luck with that one.

This is all just another money grabbing scheme dreamt up by some shiny arsed bureaucrat sitting in an office somewhere looking for something to justify his/her existence.

Originally Posted by Chucaro

Which will be illegal like the radar detectors
The data collected by the system will be used for another purposes as well "to improve the life of the citizens" and will keep very confidential

Radar detectors illegal .............

Whoops ........... sorry ............... forgot you're east of the border.

Think I'll get myself a jamming device from Tombie and mount it on the dash alongside my LEGAL radar detector.

Originally Posted by Tombie

I can see myself obtaining a jamming device

Surely it'd be easier to re-do your headlining, or bonnet insulation with a layer of faraday style mesh incorporated into the layers. Much simpler than a jammer

"In fact I would think that suburban roads and most secondary country roads would not attract any sort of charge"

??? what planet do you come from?
Terry

Not as far fetched as you might think. The EU has already put in place legislation to enable this very idea.

Is part of the Galileo satellite system. This is a GPS system which is being built as a joint project between the EU and China who both believe that the world is not safe due to the current system being a US one. A big difference though is that the EU/China system has a third channel which will allow paid for services to be run via the system something that the free to use US system does not have.

EU government sees the ability to track all vehicles and charge per mile travelled as a source of income which will free it from being subject to vagrancies of income coming from the member states who keep wanting to cut back how much they pay into the central government.

Any system proposed here will no doubt be sales people from the operators of this new EU/China GPS system seeking additional income streams.

Originally Posted by benji

It's not illegal if they can't find it.

Well they will have your rego on the data base and if it do not show any use on the road (detected by the gps/satellite ) it will be suspicious.
Big brother will win, do not worry about that

Originally Posted by Tombie

I can see myself obtaining a jamming device

Jammers are illegal, but "accidentally" microwaving the device would be a freak act of nature. Land Rovers are known for dodgy electrics so it is possible...

Same thing happened to the chip in my passport - freaky eh?

Attaching a hiclone to the devices antenna will freak it out with the extra transmission HP it will have. Problem solved.