Satellite charging for cars is pie in the sky
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[May 15, 2006]

Satellite charging for cars is pie in the sky

(The Sunday Telegraph Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Following the recent ministerial musical chairs, Douglas Alexander ended up sitting on two, as Secretary of State for both Transport and Scotland (it is surprising they didn't throw in the Home Office as well). Mr Alexander's first bid to win headlines was a pledge that his "personal priority'' will be to plan a satellite-based system whereby all road users can be electronically charged by the mile (or kilometre) for driving on Britain's roads.



Far from this being a "personal'' bright idea, Mr Alexander must know, as our former Europe minister, that the European Commission has been talking about introducing such a system across the EU since 2001. The idea is that every vehicle will be fitted with a computerised on-board unit, costing pounds 300 or more, which - co-ordinated through the EU's Galileo satellite system - will be able to charge drivers every time they use the road, thus yielding a lavish new income for both national governments and the EU. An additional supposed benefit would be that, by tracking the exact position and speed of vehicles, it will be possible to automatically fine drivers who exceed a speed limit.

The only problem is that this is so ludicrously ambitious, dependent in every direction on technology not proven or yet available, that the chances of getting it to work are slim.



Mr Alexander may like to talk big about how motorists could be charged up to pounds 1.34 a mile at peak times. But if this means that a motorway journey from London to Scotland and back could cost more than pounds 800 (plus the fact that many drivers would have racked up enough speeding fines to get them disqualified), Mr Alexander will not score many brownie points with the electorate.

If he were also honest enough to admit that he had got the idea from the EU in the first place, he might realise that it was better to forget about the transport bit of his job and concentrate on not running Scotland instead.

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