----- Original Message ----- From: "Adrian Stott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 5:22 PM Subject: [canals-list] Re: Road pricing (OT)
> It consists of a (sealed) black box in each vehicle, attached to a > swipe-card reader in the cab. You add units to your on-board account > from your (pre-paid) swipe card. If you car drops below an average > specified speed (10 mph?) for more than a specified time (5 minutes?), > or stops with the engine running for more than a specified time (5 > minutes?) or the engine stops too frequently etc. etc. you are deemed > to be driving in a congested area , and 1 unit is deducted from your > on-board account. If your account goes in to the red, *nothing* > happens. However, the next time you try to start the engine, it won't > start until you have brought your account back into the black. I can think of so many ways of setting the thing off unintentionally. The dropping below 10 mph thing is such an obvious safety hazard it will never be allowed. You are taking a seriously ill relative to the hospital. You accidentally stall at some point, due to your mental state. You have forgotten to refill the damn swipe card, or the last time you tried the system wouldn't let you (Government IT system, remember). At this point your quality of life takes a bit of a downturn. > > NO tracking needed! And inexpensive as no roadside network, no > satellites either. The boxes would be cheap to make and install (and > would be checked at MOT time). Driving without a working one would > attract a heavy fine. Cars arriving from overseas would have to have > them installed for the duration of their stay. > > You choose your route and time. No need for C zones. > If there is some sort of incident or accident, you pay extra through no fault of your own. Oh yeah and theres that thing about it being of no concern whatever to the rich, but the less well off can take the bus and like it. This is even worse than the geographical / time based one. At least with that there would be some chance of avoiding it. This one, whenever and wherever the road authorities screw up, you pay. -- Niall
