-4/01/2008

Whitehall expert attacks road pricing satellite

Proposals to track every motorist by satellite have been dismissed as ‘hopelessly over the top’ by the former head of technology at the Department for Transport.

A ‘spy in the sky’ to enforce a national road pricing scheme is one option being examined as the Government considers whether to push ahead with pay-as-you-drive charges.

Eric Sampson, who has retired from the DfT and is now professor of transport at Newcastle University, has described satellites as the ‘most complex’ and ‘most expensive’ of the alternatives in an article for Local Transport Today magazine.

His intervention came as the Government prepares to embark on a series of technology trials, including satellite tracking, to test how fees could be paid if road pricing is introduced in the UK in the future.

Mr Sampson said the system would necessitate building transmitters into cars during manufacture and might not work in built-up areas. It was also unnecessary in many non-congested areas of the country, he said.

(Daily Telegraph)
back