Road Charging?

that's why I said "limiting" rather than "banning". Plenty of HGV
transported stuff (cars, fuel, animals, construction materials, etc.
etc.) could easily be transported at night. It'd probably be cheaper
for them too, as the traffic on motorways would be freer flowing and
they'd use less diesel.

 

Chicken before egg, or more correctly cart before horse. First provide
*cheap* good public transport and well patrolled park and ride schemes.

I was pretty impressed by my ride on NET a couple of years ago, but it
is only scratching the surface. There has to be subsidy to make it
cheaper to use public transport than your car.


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| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
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sensible chaps, the Germans.

 

You've had three votes on it already.

 

This a British Democracy, Bernard.

 

Almost right. Scrap the current fuel tax system and only allow the
govmint to levy that which they will spend on transport infrastructure.

I'd suggest containerisation and rail transport but our rail system is
terminally fucked.

 

Hog wrote

I'd not blame the rail system but point out that your thinking is
flawed.

As a means of getting stuff into the country the container port is a
good idea but there are very few ports where the eventual destination is
likely to be more than an a couple of hours drive away. Hardly worth
the effort of shipping it onto a railway unless the railway happens to
pass right by your door. Ford's in Dagenham could take advantage of
this but very few others and for them it is piss easy to put a container
straight on the back of a lorry at the point of entry and send it to
where it is going, only one change involved in the whole affair and
changes are labour intensive. The same applies to containers
originating and needing to be delivered locally. The country is really
just too small for a rail delivery network to 100 million destinations
to work efficiently, except for specifically suited cargo.

 

Couldn't we just have a nationwide pneumatic tube delivery system

 

Canals. Use more canals.

Ali

 

It's not just that... maybe getting schools on a more equal level in
terms of teaching standards etc. and then stating that if you live in
district A, your kids go to the schools in immediate area rather than
carting them across town by car like some of the parents I see up at
the youngests junior school do, all in the name of getting little
Johnny a better education.

 

Some LEA's admission rules a pretty strict already for junior school
entry. Well ours is at least. Particularly after a scandal a few years
ago when parents were allegedly giving relatives addresses as their own
to get a place in a school of choice. The parents of a friend of our lad
got in to a dispute about their child getting a place at his school. The
LA said an alternative was closer. The LEA only relented when it was
pointed out that the route to the alternative, though very marginally
shorter, involved crossing a major road. Depends on the policy in the
particular LEA I suppose.
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+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

When I drive out of town (Bedford) on a Monday morning I go right past
two private schools and within a mile of a further two. The roads are
blocked to the point of drivers getting very shouty from 8:30 until
9:00 by Chelsea tractors but the best bit is that the school buses
can't get up the roads so they drop the kids off a few hundred yards
away.

If the tractor drivers stayed at home the buses would get closer to
the schools and the parents might not worry about their little
precious either being knocked down by a car or stolen by a pervy arab
for a life in a harem.

 

The only problem here is that a lot of essential maintenance work is
carried out on motorways at night and traffic is already too heavy for
the lane restrictions without adding more.

Toll roads and making container movement by rail cheaper are (imo) the
way forward.

 

Does anyone know if a litre of petrol is in the 'basket' of goods used
to calculate the inflation rate?

 

I thought the idea of democracy was that we elected representatives to
govern on our behalf, thus avoiding the need to run referendums on every
single issue.

 

Canals are great for stuff which doesn't have to be there within a day
or so. Stuff like gravel, bricks, coal - once you set a line of boats
off, you have a continuous supply chain going, which is what used to
happen in their heyday. Unfortunately, the shit wages paid in their
heyday made it possible too.

A new canal network, operated by an automated fleet and modern automated
locks or lifts might be economically feasible, but only when the price
of road transport goes skyhigh.

 

"in the case of the fuels and lubricants class in the CPI, it is
sufficient to monitor just three representative items: ultra low
sulphur (i.e. unleaded) petrol, ultra low sulphur diesel and motor
oil. While total household spending in this area is high, the three
items provide a reliable estimate of price changes for all fuel and
lubricant products."

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/nojournal/CPI&RPI_basket_2006.pdf
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| ___ Salad Dodger
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|_\_____/_| ..87845../..23017.../..31893.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 84 Pts:1800 Miles:5704

 

If 4WD vehicles were governed to 55mph max by law, the middle classes would
drop them like fuming nitrous dog-poo. Of course, the next big thing might
be huge swanky saloons with 10' crumple zones at both ends...

Ah. We were wondering what had happened to Jennifer.

 

Except the part system has gone titsup and we now get incompetent
representation and shit govmint.

Was it ever different.

 

I have to say this sort of thing, sensibly(hah!) applied, is one of my hobby
horses.
To name but a few:
1.Traffic lights operating at dark o'clock.
Hun solution.
No lights visible on main(priority signed) road, flashing amber & Give Way
signs on minor roads.
2.Level Crossings.
Hun solution.
HGV must stop 100m back from crossing to allow faster traffic to get ahead.
All engines *must* be turned off.
3.Auto speed limits.
Continental approach, auto 50kph at town name sign.
4. Left on red as per the Merkin right on red system.
5. Use of *minimum* speed limits, particularly for HGV on dual carriageways
& motorways.
6. Much more use of 'No overtaking' zones for HGV on twin carriageways.(1)
All the above could be implemented at minimal cost in real terms aid traffic
flow, safety and even have environmental benefits.
(1) Being trialed on the northern part of the M42 I believe.

<steps off horse>

-
I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as
members. Groucho Marx