Toll roads drive me mad
Feb 14, 2009
(7)
And road taxes are becoming increasingly popular with politicians.
The congestion charge across the ocean in London is by far the most famous.
But if one politician comes up with some money-grubbing scheme, you know their brethren (and sistren) won't be far behind.
The theory is that those who use the roads should pay for them, right?
And now that technology exists (or soon will) that can track exactly where every vehicle is at any time, it is theoretically possible to charge vehicles on a sliding scale – less during off-peak hours, more during rush hour.
There are a number of things wrong with this.
First, these schemes are often polished up as anti-pollution measures, ridding downtown areas of smog and soot.
But as we have pointed out before, vehicular traffic is far from the worst pollution issue we face.
According to Environment Canada, the transportation sector is responsible for 12 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.
Twelve per cent.
So if we stopped ALL vehicular traffic in and out of our cities, 88 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions would still remain.
And if anything, you'd expect the federal ministry of greenness to be biased in favour of, rather than against, cars and trucks.
Privacy issues should also be top-of-mind here. Do we really want governments to know exactly where we are every second of the day or night?
They would never misuse that information, would they?
No more than they promised that social insurance numbers would never be used as a countrywide identification number, but only for federal government benefit programs.
Proponents of road toll systems say foreign governments are so hot on the idea that it can succeed without involving either the U.S. or Canada.
I'd be up for that, and I bet millions of Americans would be too, given that they view refusal to wear a seat belt as a privacy issue.
Perhaps a larger concern is the aforementioned "those who use the roads should pay for them'' issue.
As one supporter of the system said, the person who walks or bikes to the store subsidizes the person who drives to the store.
This is true enough.
But how did the product get to the store in the first place?
By truck.
On public roads.
Never seen refrigerators delivered to Bad Boy on a bike.
And when that cyclist slams into a concrete pole, how is the ambulance going to get to him?
Exactly. On public roads.
So we all use the roads, whether we drive on them or not.
I liken this to arguments about publicly supported education. Some observers believe that all schools should be private – those with kids should pay for their education, since their children benefit most from it.
Again, true enough, as far as it goes.
But this short-sighted perspective ignores the well-documented fact that one of the best predictors of long-term societal and economic health is education, spread as far and wide as possible.
The same goes for transportation infrastructure.
Only society as a whole, represented for better or for worse by government, can afford the long-term investments necessary to make our complex economy function.
These advantages benefit us all.
System proponents claim that road tolls will not increase overall taxation, but simply spread the costs more fairly, with truckers for example paying more because their heavy loads damage the road surfaces.
(Never mind that truck licences already cost a bundle, for that very reason.)
Again, there's a grain of truth here.
But to implement this scheme, governments would have to reduce or eliminate the wide range of taxes they already levy, and replace them with the road toll.
Sure. Governments love eliminating taxes.
Anybody remember that income tax was a "temporary measure" introduced to pay for the First World War? The war ended in 1918.
Oh yeah, they'll eliminate taxes all right.
And who is to pay for all this?
Right. The consumer.
True, within a few years, just about every car will have some sort of GPS-based navigation system, which will be the cornerstone upon which this system will be built.
But the software, monitoring and billing systems will cost billions.
And who pays? We do.
Is the projected benefit worth the projected cost?
I doubt it.
If our governments have that sort of money to spend on traffic management, there is all sorts of low-hanging fruit they should pluck first.
Again, as I have whined many times before, repaint our highway lane markings so the driving lane doesn't disappear. It would speed up traffic flow, reduce congestion, fuel consumption and emissions, and improve safety. Slam dunk.
Every major intersection should be converted to a roundabout, again for the same efficiency, environmental and safety reasons.
Some jurisdictions, notably Waterloo Region, are doing just this with remarkable results.
What's everybody else's problem?
The main issue I see with road tolls is that, often, we do things because we can, not necessarily because we should.
Just because customized road tolls are possible doesn't mean they are either necessary or desirable.
And now that Brian Burke is working on the Leafs, we have to get cracking on that pesky death thing.
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