Having your say on policy

We’ve been inundated with replies following our appeal for comments and questions in the run-up to the general election.

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We’ve been inundated with replies following our appeal for comments and questions in the run-up to the general election.

We’re not surprised to have received e-mails on certain subjects, the state of UK roads and speed cameras for instance, but there’s lots more besides.

From your own mini-manifestos to complaints about drivers who smoke, you’ll find the first batch of comments below.

We’ll post more comments on Monday, so click here if you’d like to have your say.

We’ll also be running through Labour’s transport proposals on Monday and, hopefully, seeing what answers the party has to the questions you’ve sent in.


Comments

If the environment is so high on the agenda, why are bio fuels not being heavily supported? The growth of biodiesel could be expanded massively if taxation on it was reduced enough to make it worthwhile for small concerns to take on the major oil companies.
Martin Edwards


More police are needed on the streets and roads to catch the real law breakers: drivers who are not insured, taxed or tested – the ones who drive like lunatics and the ones who are forever breaking into and stealing cars.

Law abiding people are easy targets, they know where we live, we pay our taxes and if we are guilty of a speeding offence we usually pay the fine.
Stephen Gresty


Considerable investment is needed in public transport – to offer
subsidised if not free transport on certain routes.

No more road building please.
Bernie Cumberland


I would like to see the Government, ANY government, abolish speed cameras in their entirety.

By all means, let us have cameras at dangerous points, such as crossroads, especially where some drivers seem to believe the lights do not apply to them.

I would like to see the Government abolish Ken Livingstone’s London car tax. It is not needed to reduce congestion, indeed it is not intended to reduce congestion. It is merely a money-raising con.

For 10 years I travelled from south London to north-west London by rail. The 20-mile journey took me an average of two hours 15 minutes. Then I went by car. The journey then took me an average of one hour 15 minutes – through the centre of London, during the peak hours.

Now, Livingstone, where is the congestion?

I would like to see any government abolish speed humps. They are not necessary.
Brian Hauxwell


Have a more sensible system of company car tax. The present system favours low-mileage business drivers for whom the company car is a non-essential perk and penalises high-mileage business drivers for whom a company car is essential.

Significantly reduce fuel tax (thereby reducing everyone's cost of living) and ring-fence most of the duty to bring our roads up to a proper standard, provide much needed by-passes, upgrade the busiest trunk roads to dual carriageway standard and introduce better public transport systems as a realistic alternative for car users.

Introduce far more severe (draconian even) penalties for things like drink-driving, dangerous driving, road rage, excessive speeding, driving without tax, insurance or MOT, and provide adequate traffic police to implement such measures.

Devise a method for all vehicles to display valid insurance and MOT details, as well as road tax, and use the latest high-tech camera technology to identify offenders.
W John Gray


Stop putting up more and more speed cameras and bring back the old-fashioned beat Bobby and patrol cars.

All highway users, especially those on foot and cyclists, need to be educated to the standard vehicle drivers are.

A degree in highway management, both for road design and management, should be obligatory for all people in charge of highway and byway work. We have doctorates in just about everything else but not for road management and safety.

Finally what about reducing the tax on fuel?

Yours, a fed-up, concerned and resigned that nothing will happen, seen-it-all motorist.
Derek Rowe


I, and many, many people I know, agree that speed cameras are not for road safety at all but are just there to gain extra revenue.
Jamie Carpenter


Let’s have a more sensible policy on speed cameras. You spend so much time today watching your speedo and looking for cameras both fixed and mobile, that your full concentration on driving is diminished. Another point is that mobile speed traps are not situated on roads with a high accident ratio, but positioned to gain most revenue. A Dick Turpin attitude – highway robbery!
Alan Yeoman


Bus lanes are pointless. You get bus-lane fines with no buses in sight in either direction. Where does the money go?
Keith Shelley


I think all cars, diesel or petrol, should have a new road-tax band if their engine is above 2550cc.

They should price this new band in the region of £260 to £300 to reduce the number of SUVs or cars with excessively large engines on the road.
Robert Hedges


Transport must be a priority – how else can we get to our jobs, hospitals, homes etc? But it must be sustainable and realistic.

The Thames Gateway Crossing between Beckton and Thamesmead must be stopped. A six-lane motorway will not help traffic congestion or the local residents.

It would merely cause terrible environmental damage and health problems to thousands and bring local roads to a halt. An extension of the London Underground or Docklands Light Railway is needed.

No to road tolls and pricing by the mile or by satellite tracking. Scrap the Congestion Charge – it’s destroying local businesses and communities.

Better public transport is fine, if you can get to it – secure and cheap parking at railway stations and tickets available on the bus or train etc. It’s a daft country that forces you to trek to a newsagent before you can get on a bus or train! Also make it cheaper and easier.

Roads need maintenance – get rid of damaging potholes!

Do not tax the motorist off the road – lower fuel duty and be honest about the tax raising. The motorist contributes tens of billions to the Government and the economy but gets about £6bn back. If we stopped driving, the country would grind to a halt.

New style fuel duty charges – does anyone actually drive a vehicle with carbon-dioxide emissions under 100g/km? Do they even exist?
Alan Basham


Isn’t it about time that money paid by the motorist is spent on improving the roads? It’s also about time that we did away with road tax and collected the duty by increasing tax on petrol. That way, the more you drive, the more you pay. It’s got to be much fairer.
Peter Baker


There are definitely fewer police officers policing the roads. Speed cameras are not useful when idiots driving fast around town at night present more of a risk than the ordinary worker simply going to work and straying over the speed limit by a small fraction.
Ryan Robinson