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National road toll devices to be tested by drivers next year[UK][$2.05 per Mile]
Times Online | 05 Nov 2008 | Ben Webster

Posted on 11/06/2008 8:02:09 AM PST by BGHater

Trial could lead to £1.30-a-mile charges

Hundreds of drivers are being recruited to take part in government-funded road-pricing trials that could result in charges of up to £1.30 a mile on the most congested roads.

The test runs will start early next year in four locations and will involve fitting a satellite-tracking device to the vehicles of volunteers. An on-board unit will automatically deduct payments from a shadow account set up in the driver’s name.

Paul Clark, the Transport Minister, confirmed yesterday that the trials would proceed despite previous statements from the Government suggesting that it had abandoned the idea of a national road-pricing scheme. In 2004 a feasibility study considered a range of possible prices, up to £1.30 a mile. It said that the highest rate “would be paid by only 0.5 per cent of traffic”.

The on-board unit could be used to collect all road charges, such as congestion charges in London and Manchester and tolls for crossing bridges and using new lanes on motorways.

In the longer term the technology could be used to introduce pricing on all roads, with the price varying according to the time of day, direction of travel and the level of congestion.

Drivers would use the internet to check all their payments on a single bill. They would choose whether the bill showed where they had travelled or simply the amounts they had paid.

Ministers hope to overcome concerns about loss of privacy by allowing drivers to instruct the on-board unit not to transmit locations to the billing centre but simply the number of miles driven at each charging rate.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has appointed four companies to test different charging systems and a further three companies to test methods of enforcing a pricing scheme and ensuring its accuracy.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: road; toll; tollroad; uk

1 posted on 11/06/2008 8:02:10 AM PST by BGHater
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To: Admin Moderator
Dam. Good you add the link, thanks

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/news/article5084291.ece

2 posted on 11/06/2008 8:03:16 AM PST by BGHater (The GOP, the new DNC.)
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To: BGHater

Change You Can Believe in.


3 posted on 11/06/2008 8:04:12 AM PST by nhwingut (,)
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To: BGHater

Big Brother is watching you and then, adding insult to injury, he’s making you pay through the nose.


4 posted on 11/06/2008 8:05:27 AM PST by Southside_Chicago_Republican (Being dragged, kicking and screaming, down the road to serfdom.)
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To: BGHater
Ministers hope to overcome concerns about loss of privacy by allowing drivers to instruct the on-board unit not to transmit locations to the billing centre but simply the number of miles driven at each charging rate

I've watched Law and Order enough times to know this this statement is simply not true.

5 posted on 11/06/2008 8:05:41 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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Wow. I don’t even know what to say about that. Would a government under Cameron stop any of this madness or are they now just crazy lite? I have lost track of the UK Conservatives the last few years. I know Cameron is making a push, but I know he isn’t another Thatcher either...besides the lack of a skirt.


6 posted on 11/06/2008 8:07:18 AM PST by Crimson Elephant
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To: BGHater
And the sheep will discover that gasoline is still essentially free.

ML/NJ

7 posted on 11/06/2008 8:09:03 AM PST by ml/nj
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To: BGHater

Santiago, Chile has these damn things all around. They do make trafic flow better but they are very EXPENSIVE for the driver and almost everyone I have spoken with has been presented bogus bills!


8 posted on 11/06/2008 8:18:32 AM PST by WellyP
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To: BGHater

Link~
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/news/article5084291.ece

What do you bet Mayor Bloomberg somehow has his paws in this scheme? It sound like something he would do/tried to do in NYC.


9 posted on 11/06/2008 8:19:32 AM PST by libertarian27 (Land of the Fee, Home of the Shamed)
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To: WellyP

And, the cameras are beinbg intergrated to the police dept. They will track plate numbers.


10 posted on 11/06/2008 8:20:36 AM PST by WellyP
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To: libertarian27
Yeah he already has a plan, $8 to enter Manhattan.
NY City Council passes congestion toll plan
11 posted on 11/06/2008 8:24:09 AM PST by BGHater (The GOP, the new DNC.)
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To: BGHater
will involve fitting a satellite-tracking device to the vehicle

I got two words for this crap:
Faraday Cage.

12 posted on 11/06/2008 8:33:10 AM PST by grobdriver (Let the embeds check the bodies!)
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To: WellyP; All

This is one place where a bit of tin foil would actually work, along with some mud on the license plates...:^)

Become the stealth car...


13 posted on 11/06/2008 8:38:31 AM PST by az_gila (AZ - need less democrats)
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To: BGHater

Paradoxically a road pricing system is in theory the most conservative-compatible method of funding a road network - each consumer is buying a quantifiable product, neither subsidising nor being subsidised by any other. Difficult to see, however, a practicable means of applying this theory which doesn’t involve surveillance.


14 posted on 11/06/2008 9:08:36 AM PST by Winniesboy
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To: BGHater
Ungland...
15 posted on 11/17/2008 3:41:13 PM PST by Chode (American Hedonist -)
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