What can be done to get the numbers of cars off the roads here in the U.K?

Question

I have been driving now for about 20 years and I have noticed a BIG difference in the numbers of cars on the road in that time. It is just painfull to drive anywhere now. The price of petrol is going through the roof but it seems to be making no difference at all. Price the running of cars through the roof, It is the ONLY way you can do it. Agree/Disagree. If it was £3 for a Litre of petrol and £1 for every mile you drove (electronic road tolls) That would work would it not.

Answer 1

Compulsory retests every 5 years. Half the drivers on the roads would fail straight away...

Answer 2

Don't blame the people or the cars, blame the government's active policy of not building new roads, or improving existing ones, despite all the projected increases in traffic. The UK government actively said " We know traffic will increase, we know we're heading for gridlock, but our only solution is to tax the hell out of you"
Population density has a lot to do with it too, outside the south-east, and the midlands corridor, traffic moves ok most of the time. The problems happen because our society is geared towards everyone doing a 9-5 job, that's when the jams happen.
Taxing motorists off the road hasn't worked, and won't work unless millions of lower paid people simply give up working.

Answer 3

A great big tank?

I hear you, it's worldwide though. You've also gotta look at India which is up and coming economically, they'll soon be demandingso much energy and things like cars & TVs that the resources will run out. Thanks to the West providing them with jobs 9call centres etc). Worldwide we HAVE to find an alternative and FAST! Personally I'd like the vegetable oil fuelled cars. We have to go backwards in order to go forwards. Tap into some old ideas again.

e.g. We pay a gym to work out on exercise bike, but I think every home should have at least one and find a way to use that energy to be stored and channelled into something we use every day. If the whole family used it there may be enough to fuel something useful. Lifting weights etc..all those machines could be linked up to extract the energy and channel it elsewhere. Gramophones were a good idea, like the wind up radio is now...so much better than using batteries & electricity. But let's MODERNIZE the concepts of course!

Answer 4

Not really - that would just mean the average working man would be priced off the road and the rich 4 x 4 driver would carry on. Haulage companies would pass the cost on and the cost of living will go sky high. Maybe putting the minimum driving age up to 21 would help and stopping the immigrants driving on foreign licences would cut down on lots of drivers xxxx

Answer 5

The best solution that I can think of would be to reopen many of the railway lines that were closed in the 1960s and run eco-friendly train services on them. If the trains ran on Hydrogen Fuel Cells they would only expell water vapour and would be efficient to run as long as people realised how much easier it would be than driving; especially in the major cities.

In Edinburgh they are building a tram system for the main areas of the city in a bid to cut down the number of busses on the roads; they are trialling similar schemes across the country and I think this improved public transport system is the only way we are going to reduce the number of cars.

Answer 6

"That would work would it not?"

It may make a slight difference but I think it has been proven over the years that you cannot tax people off the roads (or out of the air), people have become reliant on their cars and value the independence they give.

If the measures you suggest were to be implemented in one fell swoop I think you would see quite a marked effect but that's just not going to happen - it'll come year on year but wages will rise too, people will just not notice the rises quite so much. Plus no government in their right mind would introduce rises on the scale you suggest if they wanted to stay in government.

Incidentally, is your car one of the ones you want off the road or do you just want more space - like me? :)

Answer 7

I don't think anything will get the number of cars off the roads here that the government want. People like their cars and will do anything to keep them.
If, half the cars were taken off the road, where would the government replace the tax from....drinkers?

Answer 8

Of course, your plan would apply to everyone else on the road, but not to you...

People have to travel for work and to buy groceries, to seek medical care, go to school, etc. Provide adequate, clean, safe and affordable public transportation, and many of the people who are driving today would gladly leave their cars at home.

Answer 9

why not build a road above a road eg the M1 leave the lower road for the lorries the upper one for cars they have done this to some degree in Bangkok so why not here

Answer 10

Hi
Raise the driving age to 21 or even 25, oops silly me, if they did that the government would'nt have an excuse to tax us.
Ray. West York's. U.K.