Should road tax be pay-as-you-go?

[Otrere]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4610901.stm

[BigDogsWang]

I know the answer. Charge all the mothers in their Chelsea Tractors �50 a time when they take their kids to school.

[twiglet4frog]

BREAKING NEWS:

Leeds is to be tested next year with 450 drivers used as guinea pigs testing out 3 systems, they are

1) Congestion charges when entering the city centre used by cameras on all roads monitoring u entering and leaving

2) Satelitte GPS technology with movement of your car tracked through leeds city centre by a satelitte receiving data from a Black Box under the car bonnet

3) Same sort of system as 2 but using microwave technology as opposed to satellite GPS.

This is only a trial for 450 volunteers and full implementation of any system could be 5 - 10 years away

[ludwig]

Well in 5 years time we may as well saw Cornwall off from England and let it sink into the atlantic.
Completely dependent on tourism, 95% of which arrives by car.
Who'd want to spend �500 to drive down to Newquay for a bit of surfing when you could probably get a flight to California for less.
Still, I spose on the plus side they'd have some nice clear roads. Anyway, I've ranted enough - is there a tax on ranting yet?

[IndieSinger]

Bad idea.

This is the age-old problem of not actually tackling the problem at all. Roads are over-crowded because people want to/need to/have to be in their car in that place at that time. Charging them for it doesn't solve any problems.

Decent roads should be a right, not a luxury.

[sandbach99]

Badly thought out
1] traffic will use cheaper roads causing gridlock, like it does now when the M6 is closed, these roads are often built up therfore higher risk of accidents.

2]What will happen if you don't or can't pay, will you have a running total or a sudden shock, presumably more work for the courts and bailiffs

3]For people who are of no fixed address the bills will never catch up with them

4] No doubt the dishonest people will soon provide a gadget that will disable the black box.

5] How will visitors to this country  with their own cars pay or will they have to hire a black box at the port

[steevee]

It'll never work. The Government know as well as the rest of us that eventually gridlock will paralyse the country and this is just a smokescreen to make it look as if they have a solution. It's estimated that there are 30 million vehicles on Britain's roads and by the time this "scheme" comes around there'll be a lot more. There isn't a chance in h*ll that it will work. Can you imagine 30 million+ vehicles being traced for every single trip they make, and all the calculations needed for time of day, distance, etc? To say nothing of the actual invoicing and bill paying! And what about the fact that each vehicle will need to have a "tracer" fitted (at the owner's cost). The authorities will never be able to administer it. Sorry if this all sounds negative but we live in a very small country with too many vehicles on the road. The situation will just get worse and worse until it all grinds to a halt!