Toll gates will extend motorist journeys

The National Alliance Against Tolls (NAAT), A motoring pressure group have forecast that pay-as-you-go charging on the most frequently used roads in the UK will increase rather than reduce the distances driven.

NAAT claim trials of a similar system in the US concluded that motorist who volunteered for the trial drove further than usual when they were being tracked.

The trial did reveal that some motorist actually drove less during the experiment but most went as far as they could to avoid having to pay the tolls.

Mr McGoldrick of NAAT stated that "Road pricing is the daftest idea that anyone ever came up with, added who claimed that the costs of the system would add 20p a litre to fuel duty."

Many motorist feel as they are being priced off the road, as in a recent survey England was top in the most expensive places to live. Jon from London stated that "first the congestion charge and then now toll gates. Don't they realise that motorist will just use other routes and jam those up as well."

The new pay-as-you-go charging system made public by transport minister Alistair Darling last summer revealed that car tracking technology would be implemented by motor insurance companies.