Million sign e-petition against UK road pricing

[Zakuii]

http://motoring.asiaone.com.sg/news/20070212_009.html

 

Million sign e-petition against UK road pricing

- Feb 12, 2007

Reuters

 

More than a million Britons have signed an online petition calling on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to abandon plans for a national vehicle tracking and road pricing system.

 

The experimental "e-petition", hosted on Blair's 10 Downing Street website, passed the million mark at the weekend after a surge in support.

 

"The petition gained 300,000 names in five days," said Nigel Humphries of motorist pressure group the Association of British Drivers (ABD).

 

"Road pricing is just another tax -- and a tax that is unfair, expensive to administer and difficult and inconvenient to collect," he said.

 

The petition, which closes on February 20, was submitted by ABD member Peter Roberts and calls on Blair to abandon road pricing and instead "concentrate on improving our roads to reduce congestion."

 

The government is considering proposals to charge motorists for every mile they drive, using satellite tracking technology, with prices depending on the location and the time of day in a bid to counter a growing congestion problem.

 

Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander told the Times the petition would not deter him from commissioning road-pricing trials.

 

"The response to this petition makes the case for more debate, not less, on the issue of road pricing," he said.

 

"It makes me more determined to debate the real issues about how we tackle growing congestion."

 

Initial estimates suggest a tracking scheme could cost drivers up to 1.34 pounds a mile to drive in the busiest areas at rush hour.

 

Transport chiefs argue that unless radical action is taken there will be gridlock on some of Britain's roads in 20 to 30 years.

 

The government has pledged 10 million pounds to fund research into road pricing.

 

Last December a government-sponsored report on transport led by former British Airways chief Rod Eddington said charging motorists to use roads was the only viable option.

[Ahbengdriver]

We should sign one in SG on our old, farking outdated, rediculous road tax structure

[Rickster]

And the moment we do that, the garment will implement a similar system to that in the UK

[Zakuii]

It is a fact ERP is not working as it should be. Either reduce the no. of cars on the road significantly or build more roads/tunnels/flyovers.

[Nutty]

Either way doesn't increase the profits of SG Inc...

 

So you think that will happen?

[Porche]

Sg may end up like London....pay as u use, satellie belly advance, or GPS

[Wintersonata]

Didn't we just came from the time whereby COE is almost $50k and very little cars on the road because it cost almost $100k to buy a Toyota Corolla? By what the govt wants is not to earn a fixed amount initially and lose out to re-sale cars which they would not be able to earn again until the 10 years COE is up...

 

How many roads/highways/tunnels can you build in SG? Sure, how about a 10-lane highway in Jurong west extension? What's the purpose of just building roads where the main issue here is always peak-hour traffic and nothing else...

 

Now, govt is just giving what the people wants and dream about... To own a car or 2 cars as what most of the households are getting right now, since it's so cheap compared to >5 years ago... Then let those poor people get stuck in the traffic jam and complain... Ask for more expensive ERP charges to ensure smoother traffic, not enough, even complain why northbound CTE gantry only active at Braddell and CTE get jam again at Ang Mo Kio and beyond (From ST forum)... He even suggested more ERP grantries to be added on CTE to resolve this issue...

 

Now, our 2*Peanut (1 Peanut = $600k) paid ministers would be sitting behind their desks and smilling at how their naive citizens are falling into their traps and start planning when to announce new policies/gantries "DEMANDED" by the public...

 

What can we do? Stop driving ourself? Ask ur neighbours to own one car only? Stop those low-middle income family from taking 100%, 10 years loan with $1 downpayment? Who has the power to do this? Only the govt whom scraped the 30% downpayment rule that open the floodgate... From one-time big collection of money to pay-per-use steady stream of income...

Edited February 12, 2007 by Wintersonata