Driving On Our Roads – What Does The Future
Hold?
Author: Charles Cridland

Environmental issues have never been higher on the agenda than
today and with this has come concerted pressure on the
motorist. Deemed as one of the most highly polluting sources of
pollution, the question has now fallen on how to shift people
away from their cars. Initiated by the Stern Review, a number
of additional schemes have either been introduced or are
currently being planned, leading to the question of what does
the future hold for the motorist?

The Stern Review stated one overriding conclusion, that the
world must act now on climate change or face devastating
consequences. Unfortunately it also appears that this action is
going to lead to devastating consequences for motorists. Various
proposals in the Stern Review were suggested, including
introducing a fuel-price stabilizer, meaning when fuel prices
they will never be able to fall again, and per mile road
charging.

Taking a deeper look into each proposal uncovers fundamental
flaws. Artificially setting prices has never made economic
sense and furthermore, the fuel price stabilizer would simply
have the effect of desensitizing people from changes in the
fuel price. Consider a huge rise in fuel prices which
subsequently fall but this fall is not reflected in the price.
People become used to this new higher price and when they see
that it stays at this level for many months they become used to
it, never lowering their consumption, even if fuel prices then
begin to gradually rise.

Then there's per mile road charging. As it stands people are
charged on a per mile basis – the further one drives the more
fuel they use and the more they pay. Is this not a ploy to
generate even more revenue and prepare for a time when cars no
longer run on fuel? If everyone was to suddenly switch to
electric cars the government would lose a vital source of
revenue. Per mile road charging could fill in the shortfall,
brought in under the umbrella of concern for the environment.

A couple of new road charges have been brought in. The first,
to be introduced in Richmond-upon-Thames, is that homeowners
will be charged a fee to park their vehicle outside their
homes, the value of the charge depending on the type of car
they own. Residents' parking restrictions, initially introduced
to help homeowners park outside their homes, are suddenly being
turned against the very people they were meant to help.

The London Congestion charge has already risen to £8 a day from
its original £5 a day, and proposals were unveiled recently to
charge so-called "gas-guzzlers" £25 a day to drive into Central
London. An extortionate amount by anyone's standards.

However, something has to be done to protect the environment so
what's wrong with making a start and pricing polluting motorists
and vehicles off the road? It's certainly hard to argue against
the fact that some cars do pollute large amounts of greenhouse
gases and they should be discouraged. But isn't the real fact
to emerge from all this that the car driver is simply an easy
target? Infrastructure is already in place whereby large
additional taxes can be introduced whilst many people have
little choice but to use their car, meaning that the revenue
generated from these taxation schemes will be significant. Even
the Stern Review undermines its argument against the motorist by
producing figures showing that transport is responsible for 14%
of all the emissions of greenhouse gases in the UK. Transport
that includes car travel, lorries, buses, trains, ships and
aircrafts. In addition, the argument is that economic growth
will suffer if we fail to act now. This simply neglects the
effect of imposing huge taxes on motorists, seriously
inhibiting people's ability to travel to work and help the
economy, and this is all without even mentioning a certain
rapidly growing country – China.


About The Author: Charles Cridland founded
http://www.yourparkingspace.co.uk/, a site where you can offer
your driveway or garage for rent, or find long-term parking
spaces for rent.