"Eycott, George, VF UK - Technology \(TS\)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Say I choose to drive at 2am to avoid all traffic and congestion. >Someone has an accident or there are major roadworks (being done >overnight which is logical) and I end up slowed to a crawl. It wasn't my >fault or an error in my planning, no amount of charging will help the >situation so why am I paying for it? I think is a good example of the benefits of this system. At present, those who fix road in Britain (unlike, e.g., those who do so in North America), have a definite "to hell with the drivers" mentality. E.G. on a two-lane road, instead of ensuring there are still two (maybe narrow) lanes, perhaps by temporarily closing on of the footways to pedestrians and adding its width to the roadway, the Brits put up those infuriating and delay-maximising alternating one-way systems. Or, if it has to be one way, finding another parallel route for the traffic going the other way. Or, or, or.... With the Cambridge system, drivers will be a lot less tolerant of the callous disregard now shown by the repairers. You can bet this will soon lead to changes in practice. "Niall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >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. Huh? >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. A relative suddenly becomes seriously ill. You have accidentally forgotten to pay your phone bill. You can't call an ambulance. At this point ... >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. We live in a society based on capitalism. And a very good thing too IMHO. >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. And then you unelect them. Adrian Adrian Stott 07956-299966
