Motorists to Pay for Victims of Crime

rdwarr

Don;t look at this as another tax on decent motorists. Look at it as an additional penalty for criminals. May make you calm down and feel better

dzug

I hate to point it out to all those whom this news makes want to emigrate, but similar schemes are in place in a number of foreign countries and that their success there is one of the factors in deciding to introduce it here.

And it isn't just motorists - once the scheme is fully under way it's anyone who is fined rather than or as well as being jailed

dag_2

Paul Smith of Safe Speed said: “If they want to help victims of domestic violence, they should be suing the perpetrator, not treating the motorist as a cash cow.”

Yeah, like the perpetrators of domestic violence are sitting pretty on huge wads of cash.

The sad fact is, motoring in general simply isn't that price sensitive for many end consumers. People whinge and moan that it's too expensive, but they still shell out ridiculous amounts of money to do it, even when there are cheaper ways to cart themselves, their families and their stuff around.

I don't know if motoring has ever been socially inclusive. There once was a time when people used to clatter around council estates in old bangers, if the sets of "Only Fools and Horses" are to be believed, but you certainly don't get a lot of cars around social housing complexes these days - at least not in proportion to the number of residents who are crammed into such tiny areas.

Maybe that will change one day in the future - but given that cars are now considered to be environmentally unfriendly, I'm not sure that this will happen any time soon.

I'm amazed to find that people now find that driving long distances can be more expensive than flying and renting a car at their destination. Everyone seems to want to say that driving is very bad for the environment, and that flying is very bad for the environment too - but no-one seems to want to be drawn on the question of whether one is worse than the other.

moonrakerz

dag wrote: »

even when there are cheaper ways to cart themselves, their families and their stuff around.

Are there really ?

Last night we (3) went to a concert in Southampton, the train fare (because of the times) would have been £100 each ! PLUS an overnight stop or 5 hours on Reading station through the night.
2 of us are going to London on Saturday; train fare £44 each.

I get over 40 to the gallon from my car. I have paid my road tax, insurance, depreciation, loss of interest, Britannia Rescue etc, so my costs for these trips are little more than the direct operating costs ie: the petrol.
Say £4 a gallon, 40mpg = 10p/mile for 2 or 3 of us - if you can tell me something cheaper than that I'll use it !