So, they want to introduce Pay As You Go Motoring. Hmm. It’s such an outlandish scheme (increasing most people’s road tax bill by a factor of 10, for instance), that I suspect it’s just a feint. Wait a couple of years and I bet we’ll hear about a new scheme which also infringes on our civil liberties, and also charges us way more than we’re paying now, but not quite as much as this PAYG malarkey.
“Well,” the politicians will say, “it’s cheaper and less invasive than our last idea, isn’t it?”
“Oooh,” the public will say, “where do I sign?”
Either that, or this scheme will be declared the last line of defense against terrorism, and it’ll be in by Christmas.
ooh, you might have to start taking the (scummy) train to work… the station’s only just up the road from your house. How handy is that?
Maybe you could take the bike with you as well so you can cycle the rest of the way to work once you’ve got Fav.
Think how fit you’d be… and how much money you’d save, and how proud you’d be to be part of the cycling fraternity.
Brilliant.
More annoying, as Mr Clarkson pointed out last night, if they can track where you are at what time, they also know how fast you’re going, at all times.
Not that I condone speeding, but speed itself is not the cause of accidents.
And, if they get this monumental scheme up and running, they’ll have national realtime data on traffic conditions, congestion etc. Which I bet they won’t make available as the likes of Trafficmaster will be out of business.
Grrr…. (goes to sup tea)
So… if they know what you were doing and how fast you were doing it just before you crashed, they’ll be able to use this data to prove, once and for all, that speed isn’t the cause of accidents…
Won’t they?
Or will the various ‘Safety’ Camera partnerships across the country just distort the data like they do today? Hmmm….
And Ian? errr – *raspberry*. I rest my case.
)
Ah, the freedom of the overly congested open road. I’d hate to give it up.
Maybe they think that a monkey driving at low speed would cause less damage than a monkey driving more quickly.
And with speed cameras its four strikes and you’re out/driving without a licence or insurance.
Ooh, this is turning into a discussion forum. Brilliant.
Can I be the cycling zealot.
Cycle more: it’s good for you.
No – zealotry of all kinds is forbidden here.
Unless it’s me.
Monkeys will cause damage regardless of how fast they are driving. Little black boxes cannot detect dangerous driving, yet.
Good news for your Health and Fitness in the papers today, Matt. The train will be too expensive for you to take that to Fav as well. You’ll have to cycle all the way.
You lucky, lucky bastard….