Building Strong Communities

While I think that the idea of charging motor vehicles directly for how much they drive, where, and when (e.g. charge more to drive at peak hours than in the middle of the night), such schemes create huge risks for data abuse. It would therefore be essential that this be protected by legislation and effective enforcement which strictly limit who can access the data of where and when you have driven your vehicle so that even the police cannot view the data without a court order. It is imperative that there are robust data protection legisltations and systems in place before such a scheme is operational.

Good idea but worth remembering that VED is a very small part (5-10%) of the upfront cost of vehicle ownership, and even with the very high fuel duty, the marginal cost of driving is way cheaper than public transport. The equation is even more extreme for electric cars, which cost more to buy but only around 3p a mile to run.

So we also need to move away from vehicle ownership to car clubs where the upfront costs are pooled and users pay a mileage or time based fee that is broadly comparable to public transport. That also we would get a newer and greener car fleet, whilst encouraging people to use cars only when necessary. They are already starting to catch on in some areas, but could do with more government support/incentives to ensure they are universally available so that they can be as convenient as an owned car.

Reducing unnecessary car journeys is key here. As I don't drive, I don't know how expensive running cars are in comparison to public transport and cycling but I get the impression from colleagues and friends that do drive that they think it's cheaper to drive (on top of being much more convenient in general). To be able to compare, maybe charging a monthly fee rather than one off payments for MOTs etc, with cumulative reductions if you've consistently clocked fewer miles than the previous months.

Insurance based on mileage already exists. But really if you are not using the vehicle why have it? We all need to rethink these things.

Please avoid using the term "road tax". There is in fact no such thing - it was abolished in 1937. You're talking about VED (vehicle excise duty), which is a tax you pay for driving or storing a polluting vehicle on public land - the amount you pay is based on how polluting it is. The money from this duty goes in to the general tax pot and does not contribute directly towards the cost of the roads. I think a road pricing scheme which charges drivers for every mile they drive would be fairer and would contribute more money to our road network (on top of VED).