Associated Problems With Proposed Road Charges

The first part of this article looked at the proposed scheme outlined by the government to reduce congestion on the UK roads by charging motorists per mile (see here). The scheme outlines plans to charge motorists up to £1.30 per mile on major routes in the UK as a replacement of road tax charges and petrol duty.

Part 1 outlined the fact that although a driver could save 47 pence on a litre of petrol and up to £160 on yearly road tax. A commuter on major routes travelling 40 miles a day during peak hours may have to fork out over £13,000 a year in pay per mile charges.

Many organisations in the UK believe that the charges could create various associated problems which the government haven't accounted for. Some of these problems include:

Environmental - Reducing petrol costs could see an increase in the amount of large engine cars on the UK roads. This will obviously be detrimental to the environment with increase emissions form these larger engine cars.

Unemployment - The rising costs of commuting to work could have a knock on effect on the UK's employment figures. The fact is that many people may have to give up work and seek alternative employment closer to home creating unemployment.

Housing - With the increase in travel costs many people may need to move closer to work which could result in a lack of housing in some parts of the country.

Congestion - Due to the fact that the charges are going to be different for the type of road that you travel on motorists will undoubtedly choose to travel on 'cheaper roads'. This will see an increase of traffic on minor roads moving congestion away from major routes that are designed for a heavy flow of traffic to roads not suitable for large amounts of traffic.

In closing, the government better be ready for a fight with these proposals as the motoring community will not take them sitting down. Add these charges to the costs of car maintenance and low cost car insurance the government could bring the UK economy to its knees. Maybe they should spend the money on improving our road network rather that spending millions on pilot schemes that everybody can see have no future on the UK roads.