Speed limits revert to being advisory except in very specific areas, such as school crossings, accident black spots and dangerous sections of roads. Ban all speed camera’s and certainly all speed traps except those at school crossings (within school times – i.e. 08:00 to 17:00 Mon – Fri within term times), designated accident black spots and at red lights on crossroads.
Anyone deemed by a jury to have caused an accident due to speeding would be fined at £100 per mile above the limit, plus all plaintiff costs.
Scrap road license tax, MOT and mandatory car insurance. Driver is responsible for upkeep of vehicle and will face all costs if they cause an accident due to an unroadworthy vehicle. If they have no insurance then they would have to cover all costs personally.
A driving license becomes a proof of driving competence, but not subject to points being applied for arbitrary traffic offences. Can be suspended temporarily or permanently if driver caught driving dangerously, recklessly, causes injury or death by negligence or under the influence of alcohol or drugs or otherwise unfit to drive. License can be revoked on medical grounds for certain conditions.
If a driver kills someone through speeding, dangerous driving, reckless driving, texting whilst driving, talking on a mobile, eating or drinking whilst driving, engaging in sexual activity whilst driving, having an unroadworthy vehicle, being drunk or under the influence of drugs, being medically unfit or driving without a valid license (proof of competence), they would face a manslaughter or murder charge and would be punished accordingly.
Parking offences in designated parking areas can only be charged at pro-rata rates for the parking facility. If a car park charges £1 per hour and someone parks for 1 ½ over what they paid, they could only be charged £2 plus a £5 admin charge, failure to pay this reasonable amount would be considered theft. People persistently abusing this system, could be lawfully fined or clamped, but only with supporting evidence.
Double yellow lines and other similar restrictions cannot be imposed arbitrarily by councils, only following local consultation. Traffic wardens and police should only be able to impose fines if parking on restricted area’s is totally unreasonable, if someone is dropping off or picking up someone, or quickly loading or unloading goods within reason that should not qualify.
Area’s designated as red zones (double red lines) would only be granted to very specific area’s such as entry or exits for emergency vehicles, hospital or school access roads.
Generally people do not resent paying a reasonable fee to park a vehicle in a car park or at parking meters, what is not reasonable is a large fine for being a few minutes over or being clamped with a massive release fee. If a driver is doing something completely unreasonable or reckless then larger punishments are justified. If you deliberately block access into someone’s house or drive that is unreasonable behaviour (except in an emergency possibly) and the homeowner is justified in calling the police and getting a parking ticket assigned with a reasonably high charge.
The punishment for speeding is totally unreasonable, especially if only a few miles over the limit. If it was just a £10 or £20 or a linearly increasing fine that would be reasonable. What is not reasonable is a flat rate fine of £60, three points on your driving license which has financial implications up to 5 years and can contribute to you being banned, possibly for as little as 1 mile per hour over the limit, when car speedometers don’t even possess the accuracy to alert the driver anyway. Speeds in excess of 10% + 5 mph no punishments, possible warning. 10 to 20 mph above the previous £20 fine, 20 to 30 mph above limit £40 fine, 30 to 40 mph above limit £60 fine
All railways brought back under public ownership with reasonable payment to current operators for rolling stock. All rail fares should then be made reasonable and subsidised, with no requirement to be profitable. As an example a return fare from Manchester to London should cost no more than £25 return, be free to children under 16, students and OAP’s (over 60), and should be less off peak and at weekends, and should be the only fare. For £5 a day max (and included on rail fare) people in London should have unlimited underground and bus travel. Obviously 1st class travel would be more expensive and not subsidised in any way.
As a general guideline, rail fares should be charged at a maximum of £1 per 20 miles travelled. So a 50 mile journey would be £2.50, or £5 return, and an additional £5 in London or other metropolitan area for unlimited bus/tube/tram travel.
Season tickets should reflect true discounting, so for a weeks ticket you pay for five days but can travel seven. For a month you pay for 15 days but can travel the entire month. For a 3 monthly ticket you pay for 30 days but can travel for full 3 months.
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