Reports indicate road charges are necessary to prevent future congestion
By Stephen Hunt, 5th July 2010
Charging motorists for each mile they travel is "inevitable" if
future gridlock is to be avoided, according to a report from the
RAC Foundation.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, has
called for a fundamental change in the way that the UK's roads are
managed.
He suggested that a "pay as you go" system might hold the
solution to congestion on our roads.
Traffic is expected to increase by 33% by 2025, due to a rising
population and cuts on road spending, which makes reform critical,
according to Prof Glaister.
However, the government has intimated that it has no plans to
charge drivers on existing roads, although it is open to the
possibility of making drivers pay to use certain new roads, such as
the M6 toll road in the Midlands.
An Ipsos MORI survey was released at the same time as the report
from the RAC Foundation. It suggests that over half of all drivers
would rethink how much they drove if a pay as you go system was
implemented.
Prof Glaister stated that if charging was introduced it would
have to be supported by other reforms, such as the abolition of
road tax, more reliable journey times and compensation for
delays.
Road pricing schemes already exist in Durham and London but the
previous Labour government's efforts to introduce further schemes
was set back by residents of Manchester voting resoundingly against
it.
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