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Fighting pollution with satellites ?
By Stéphane Schlesinger on 9 June 2005 | 
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Traffic congestion is a major problem in the UK, especially as it contributes to pollution. To some extent, reducing the number of cars on the roads by 5% could address the problem.
So, to achieve this goal, Transport Department Secretary Alister Darling has unveiled an ambitious project consisting in charging drivers for every mile they drive. How? With the help of satellites! Since they can tell you your route, they also could tell the Transport Department the number of miles you drove, where and when. The price of the mile will depend on the hour of the day, the location and the type of road used.
For example, each mile of city driving during the rush hours would be charged £1.30 while driving 1 mile in the country side at night would cost 2p ‘only’.
Of course, this project requires a very sophisticated system including the installation of GPS receivers in cars.
In mitigation, Mr Darling tells fuel taxes and vehicle excise duty would be cut. He plans to introduce a bill making a satellite-monitored charging scheme legal within 2 years. Then, the system would become operational in 2010. After a feasibility study conducted last year, the Department of Transport concluded it cut the traffic by 4%, reducing traffic jams by 46%.
Nevertheless, to be fully efficient, this system has to be supported by the public, which is far from being granted, first because drivers are already laden with taxes, secondly because it would be extremely difficult to make it reliable, given its degree of complexity.
If you think Alister Darling is an extra-terrestrial, then you have to consider his flying saucer might have dropped friends of his in Oregon, for the authorities of this state have been elaborating a similar device since 2002.
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