on the road - abdoriginal.abd.org.uk/downloads/otr/abd_otr_129.pdf · thursday, june 23. road...

Who are we, and what do we do? To join or donate to the ABD, visit www.abd.org.ukThe ABD campaign for l Improved road user training l Real transport choices l Investment in Britain’s roads l Honesty on transport issues

Visit www.abd.org.uk for further details. To join the ABD call now on 0161 408 7070The ABD campaign for l Improved road user training l Real transport choices l Investment in Britain’s roads l Honesty on transport issues

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Sorry mate, I didn’t see you . . . how many times have you heard those words when a driver has pulled out in front of another road user?

In most cases, the driver will have looked, but been fooled into thinking the road was clear, because of the way our eyes and brains see things when we move our heads.

The ABD is seeking to address the problem, by launching a safety campaign to educate road users on the dangers of ‘Saccadic Masking’ - limitations in a driver’s vision, which can effectively create blindspots.

As we move our heads from side-to-side at a junction, our eyes send snapshots to our brain at intervals – much like a video camera records different frames.

The brain then merges the snapshots into what we think is a continuous image – but that is actually an illusion, because there will be blindspots.

And if another road user – often a smaller object such as a motorbike or cyclist – falls within one of these blindspots, they will not be seen. This is known as Saccadic Masking.

The faster drivers move their heads at junctions, the more likely they are to create significant blindspots.

The ABD is putting forward a series of recommendations to the Department for Transport, in an effort to tackle the issue. They include:l Teaching schoolchildren how to cross

the road, especially the need to keep their head still for at least half a second at the end of each sweep to left and rightl Educating young cyclists how to look in

a similar way, especially at junctionsl Encouraging driving instructors to teach

about the dangers of saccadic masking and blindspots, and include it in the theory test

Putting safety first

AGM time isjust aroundthe corner

P2: ABD in the news – media coverage round-upP4: Funding of speed cameras needs scrutinyP6: Working parties, quangos and acronyms!P7: Social media spreading the ABD message P8: Beware a case of mistaken identityP9: Is it greener to travel by bus, or car?P11: Trans-Pennine tunnel plans revealedP12: Pothole problems – repair bills are risingP13: National Infrastructure Conference reportP14: Road sign restrictions are ‘a disgrace’

l Running information campaign for adult pedestrians and existing drivers, to explain the dangers – covering TV, cinema, social media, posters and newspapers.l Including advice on how to look

properly in driver improvement courses, when offered instead of fixed penalties for careless driving.

The ABD says: “If the following recommendations were implemented, accident numbers and the percentage with ‘failed to look properly’ as a contributory factor should fall over time.”

The most common contributory factor to recorded injury accidents has consistently been a driver or rider’s failure to look properly. According to most recent DfT figures, this was a factor in 46% of accidents. A further 9% resulted from a pedestrian’s failure to look properly.

This means more than half of all injury accidents are due to failures of observation - so any action that could address the fundamental causes of this problem could reduce accident numbers significantly.l Watch our video on Saccadic Masking on

Youtube, by searching for ‘ABD Road Safety – Saccadic Masking’


With the EU referendum result now decided, UK drivers are now fair game

for a hike in fuel tax!That’s what FairFuelUK, the award-winning

public affairs campaign that fights for lower fuel duty and more transparent pricing at the pumps, says it has been told by ‘reliable Treasury sources’.

The excuse? For the sake of the environment. The FairFuelUK view? A knee-jerk tax rise on diesel will not lower pollution levels or usage!

The organisation has launched an opinion poll of drivers, and will soon be sending the results to the Treasury, the Transport Minister, MPs and the media.

It says: “We are calling for a grown up sensible Government debate to incentivise not penalise owners of dirty engines to trade up to cleaner units. Do you agree with this objective?

“The heart of our economy is driven by diesel, so inflation and jobs will be at risk if the price of this fuel is increased.

“The out of touch Transport Minister’s announcement means the dirtiest vehicles, which may be most responsive to an emissions tax, would simply not be taxed enough while modern clean vehicles would be over-taxed.

“Yes that’s right, a clean diesel Euro 6 engine will pay the same for fuel as an engine not meeting those standards.”

FairFuelUK is asking MPs to stop this ‘naïve

Fair deal for dieseldrivers is demanded

The British people took the momentous decision to leave the European Union on Thursday, June 23.

Road transport over the last three decades has been influenced (some would say dictated) by EU policymaking which the ABD feels has seen road transport as the poor relation in the transport ‘hierarchy’.

While the UK is now in uncharted territory, and the process under way to find a new Prime Minister after David Cameron’s resignation, the ABD says it will be keeping a keen eye on the parliamentary process to see what changes will ensue.

Advice to members is to watch out for and beware use of “active travel plans” and object to their introduction in their areas.

We shall be taking a strong stance on this issue, leading the fight, and are strongly urging all members and supporters to use this opportunity to raise the profile of private vehicle owners, and put pressure on their elected representatives to represent the views of the largest user group and taxpayer of our roads – the drivers.

The Alliance of British Drivers is a non-party political pro-driver campaigning organisation which remained neutral on the EU membership issue.

But in a poll of members carried out shortly before the EU referendum, there was an overwhelming majority of members who wanted Britain to vote to leave.

(See P4-5 for more details).

Beware of& object tothe “activetravel plan”

Inside our summer 2016 issue:P2: Read all about it - ABD making headlinesP4: Brexit by a landslide - results of ABD’s EU surveyP6: Jobsworths, and the political merry-go-roundP7: Driverless cars - don’t be taken in by the hypeP8: The need for speed - is 80mph limit a good idea?P10: Latest report from ABD’s Drivers CommitteeP11: Warm reception for ABD from Freedom AssociationP12: Westminster bulletin - what’s new in Whitehall?P13: Report from Road User Panel at Transport FocusP14: From cyclists to speed cameras - news in briefP15: Your views - ABD members have their say

Motorists and truckers in EU states like Germany and Poland pay 25p and 42p less respectively for diesel at the pumps than drivers in the UK

ill-informed tax hike in its infancy’ and calling yet again for a grown-up sensible debate to incentivise owners of dirty engines to trade up to cleaner units.

“A well thought out diesel scrappage scheme which is supported by hundreds of MPs will work,” it says. “FairFuelUK supporters want cleaner air too, but this will NOT be achieved using punitive tax hikes.”

FairFuelUK adds: “So why does our UK Government fleece diesel drivers so much, especially when motorists and truckers in EU states like Germany and Poland pay 25p and 42p less respectively?

“Let’s motivate environmental change instead of using a quick Treasury cash grab fleecing hauliers and millions of UK motorists.”

Date for your diary - The ABD’s Annual General Meeting will be

held this year on Saturday October 15th at the Heritage Motor Museum,

Gaydon, starting at 10.30am

The journal of the Alliance of British Drivers

Issue 118 Spring 2016


It was looking like a case of ‘double trouble’ this winter, with two anti-driver Private Member’s

Bills making their way through parliament.

But both of them – one which would have given councils the power to ban all pavement parking, and the other allowing parish and town councils to set their own speed limits – have been withdrawn.

While the ABD can’t claim this was down to us, it did follow a concerted lobbying campaign voicing our opposition, which attracted a lot of media attention.

ABD director Ian Taylor says: “We cannot be complacent, though. The Government has committed to a policy review on adopting a coherent nationwide approach to regulate pavement parking which will involve round-table discussions on legislative implications.

“The people and organisations behind the Pavement Parking bill will probably be around that table, and if possible we too need to try to secure a place.”

In Scotland, the news is less promising. The Scottish government is continuing to pursue legislation to make it an ofence to park on a pavement – citing problems to guide dog owners, wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs.

Ian Taylor added: “Our friends at Disabled Motoring UK have an interest in this which we appreciate. We oppose obstruction of pavements and highways alike, but don’t want to see pavement parking outlawed totally, because it sometimes serves a useful purpose without obstructing – hence our suggested one metre clear space rule.”

The Speed Limits on Roads (Devolved Powers) Bill sought to allow parish and town councils the power to set their own

Double delight - but notime to be complacent

MP Scott Mannhad been promoting

the Bill

Thanks to Malcolm Heymer, who examined the Speed Limits on Roads (Devolved Powers) Bill in detail, the ABD raised seven objections:

1. Parish councils can already lobby highways authorities on speed limits, as can individuals.

2. Highways authorities have legal responsibility to maintain a safe and eicient network and set speed limits that promote safety without unnecessarily increasing journey times. Local referenda to set legally binding speed limits might conlict responsibilities.

3. Speed limits afect all drivers visiting or passing through, not just residents. There needs to be reasonable consistency between limits on similar types of road in diferent areas to avoid confusion. There are already too many diferences in speed policies between existing authorities — this Bill would make the situation far worse.

The objectionsmade by ABD

Inside our spring 2016 issue:P2: P3:P4:P5: P6:P8:P11:P14:P15:P16:

Withdrawn - an anti-driver Private Member’s Bill allowing local councils to set speed limits

On The Road

speed limits in “local areas”, following local referenda, which would then be introduced over the head of highways authorities – without giving them any say.

The ABD felt this would be a disaster for drivers, and again launched a campaign of lobbying MPs and media coverage.

Speed limits set on the whim of residents’ votes is, in the ABD’s view, localism carried too far. Traic speeds would be dictated purely by residents, while other users of the roads would not get a say.

Ian Taylor says: “It is a job for experts, not the votes of amateurs, who would doubtless be egged on by those lobby groups who campaign for speeds to come down to nearly walking pace.

“This would become hell for drivers, at the hands of those who think they own their streets and have no concept of the point of a public highway network.”

On the day of the second reading, our eforts were rewarded: on the request of the government minister Robert Goodwill, the bill was withdrawn. Again, probably not all down to the ABD, but a good result all the same. Time for a small, if cautious celebration

4. Changing speed limits does not guarantee a change in actual speeds.

5. Reduced speed does not guarantee a reduction in accidents; slower is not necessarily safer. Limits set too low create driver conlict and increase speed variance, which is more highly correlated with accident risk than average speed.

6. Residents frequently exaggerate the speeds of vehicles on ‘their’ roads. Speed limit changes should never be considered on the basis of residents’ claims alone; there must be objective surveys.

7. Comparing accident numbers on 20mph and 30mph roads (as Scott Mann MP, the Bill’s promoter did) without taking into account the vastly greater number of 30mph roads is nonsense.

Issue 119 Summer 2016















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Issue 120 Autumn 2016













































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Inside our autumn 2016 issue:

A still image from the video ‘ABD Road Safety – Saccadic Masking’, available on Youtube

Phil Carey is one of the speakers at this

year’s annual general meeting, in Gaydon

What are you doing on Saturday, October 15? We’d love to see you at our annual general meeting, being held at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire.

In addition to the formal business of re-electing officials, delivering reports and presenting the accounts, we have a wide variety of expert speakers on the programme.

They include:

Jason Evans and Graham Foster of Disabled Motoring UK, who will be looking at problems for drivers with disabilities, and Phil Cleary from Transport Focus – the Government group set up to advise Highways England.

ABD London member Roger Lawson will be explaining his speed awareness course campaign, and director Ian Taylor will look at some of the campaigns we have been involved with over the past 12 months.

And we are hoping for a good turnout . . . and plenty of challenging questions from the floor! It is all due to start at 10.30am, and the venue is just five minutes from junction 12 of the M40.

Our AGM is a chance to meet other like-minded ABD members for some lively discussion – and also includes free entry to the museum.

We will be breaking at 12.30pm for lunch, and there’s a café in the museum complex.
















l Running information campaigns for adult pedestrians and existing drivers, to explain the dangers – covering TV, cinema, social media, posters and newspapers.l Including advice on how to look


















































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If you are unfortunate enough to be involved in a road traffic accident, and your vehicle

suffers significant damage, your insurer will probably offer a ‘courtesy vehicle’ while yours is under repair.

That sounds all well and good, but the ABD is warning drivers to check the small print carefully.

Because these days the vehicle is more typically supplied to you on what is described in law as a ‘credit hire’ basis – and with a hefty price tag potentially attached.

"So what?" you say. Well, in signing for possession of that vehicle, you are authorising the provider to charge that vehicle against any outstanding claim for the accident in which you were involved.

And this could be at a daily rate which is typically over £300. The total credit hire costs will be assigned on a blame-apportionment basis once liability has been agreed between the insurers of those involved in the accident.

ABD chairman Brian Gregory says: “I am pretty peeved about this whole accident management services scenario.

“For £300 per day, it is possible to hire a piece of exotica such as a Bentley Continental GT Coupé rather than some humdrum cabriolet, coupé, hatchback, saloon, SUV, or indeed van originating from one of the mainstream vehicle manufacturers.

“A high street provider could rent you a vehicle comparable to your accident-damaged one at one-tenth of the credit-hire rate; so where is the rest of the credit hire cost going?

“Well, into the pockets of the insurance company or third party credit hire vehicle provider, presumably . . .

“If non-availability of parts delays the commencement of repairs on your vehicle; a three week credit hire spell could easily result - leading to a consequent £5,000-plus credit hire cost overhead being added to the total repair bill.”

Mr Gregory has contacted Steve Baker MP, who established and chairs the all-party parliamentary group on Economics, Money and Banking, urging him to investigate.

Another ABD member has also referred this whole sector to BBC’s Watchdog programme as worthy of investigation.

“It is high time that the road traffic accident management sector was subject to in-depth official investigation, and subsequent regulation to curb the abuses currently occurring within it,” Mr Gregory said.

Based on 2014 statistics for reported

Call for official investigation into roadtraffic accident management sector

accidents alone - around 150,000 in that year - if provision of replacement vehicles on a credit hire basis adds even £1,000 to the cost of an average insurance claim, that would be £150 million added annually to total insurance claim costs; or roughly £5 per car insurance policy.

Brian Gregory adds: “Apparently the accident management services sector is currently totally unregulated; with both the Financial Conduct Authority and the government's Claims Management Regulator indicating that it is outside either of their remits.

“When car insurers on the one hand prattle on about the rising cost of accident remediation; while on the other they are complicit in the provision of vehicles at 10 times the daily rate that a high-street provider could furnish them, they are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

“The blatant profiteering, by both respected insurers and third-party accident management companies alike which appears to be going on in this sector, could easily be constrained by applying a mandatory limit to

The ABD is calling on the post-Brexit government to stop its ‘nonsensical’ war on the car . . . and start tackling the real transport problems in the UK.

Spokesman Nigel Humphreys said: “Time and again we hear campaigners blaming cars for all the world's ills, yet car emissions have never been lower.

“We should scrap HS2 and spend the £60 billion or more on the roads we need.”

Read more of Nigel’s comments, including doubts over many of the latest claims expressed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, on Page 9.

Issue 121 Winter 2017

Inside our winter 2017 issue:

Check the small print when claiming on your car insurance

Stop car wars

the credit-hire charges they are permitted to levy.

“A fixed multiple cap could be applied to credit hire charges; at, say, twice the average of a basket of the daily hire rates of the Top 5 high-street hire-car providers for a comparable model to the replacement vehicle being offered.”

Peeved - ABD's Brian Gregory

Police in Scotland have shelved

plans to introduce speed awareness courses in the country, as happens in England, following continued ABD pressure.

The Alliance of British Drivers has consistently

Why you should opposespeed awareness courses


The ABD has played a part in preventing more speed awareness courses

Inside thisbumper20-page issue:

Win £1,000 – and help the Government pay for our roads The UK government faces a major

challenge to its taxation income from the growth in the number of electric and hybrid vehicles.

ABD member Roger Lawson is offering a prize of £1,000 to whoever can come up with the best solution to the problem.

The ABD has consistently opposed road pricing, congestion charges, tolls – and now emissions charges.

Apart from being an expensive method of tax collection that discriminates against working and poorer people, the collection often involves vehicle tracking, which many view as an invasion of privacy.

Nonetheless, a problem is looming – the Government is highly dependent upon vehicle fuel duties.

A combination of increasing fuel economy and the growth of electric and hybrid vehicles poses a ‘financial black hole’, and roads have to be maintained. EVs do pay for electricity, but are taxed only at 5% VAT rather than 20%

So what is the long-term solution? Roger would like your original ideas and has sponsored a competition for ABD members . . . with a £1,000 prize for the winning entry.l For full background and details of

how to enter, see Page 9.

campaigned against the misuse of police waivers and the perversion of justice involved in the police extracting cash to waive prosecution, thus steering people onto speed awareness courses.

A recent Government commissioned study showed there was no benefit whatsoever in terms of casualty reduction from sending millions of people on speed awareness courses.

The Scottish Police Authority has “deprioritised” the introduction of such courses on financial grounds.

The ABD made representations on this

Roger Lawson is offering a prize of £1,000

l Much to discuss at AGM – Page 4

l Awareness of exploits – Page 8

l HS2 – money well spent? - 8

subject to the senior legal authorities in Scotland.

We can’t claim total credit but, again, our behind-the-scenes work has been influential.

AMPOW co-ordinator Roger Lawson said: “The reality is that waiving prosecution for speeding offences based on payments for ‘education’ resulted in over a million people attending courses every year in England and Wales, further financing expansion of the speed camera empire.” l Read more on Page 12

Howard Cox (FairFuel UK) both contacted the programme with good points. So did Twenty’s Plenty with all the usual dubious claims.

The county council were featured later, defending their policy – to judge each request locally on its merits and not blanket everywhere. Ian’s conversation on this occasion centred on county policy, what speed limits should be (and why) and how they should be set – and by whom. Should people decide about “their roads” (an emphatic “no”) – roads are public property belong to all that use them; drivers have opinions too.

The Sunday Express (and online) covered continuing rocketing fuel prices with the following quote from Hugh Bladon: “Fuel companies are very quick to put the price of fuel up and very slow to bring the price down. I don’t see why it should continue to rise when the price of oil isn’t rising to my knowledge.

We’re paying too much already and as so much of our goods are transported by lorry, if the cost of fuel continues to rise then it will just drive up the cost of living.”

In discussing average speed cameras and the latest ones that can detect more than just speed, but also hand-held phone use, seatbelt wearing, and even eating and smoking at wheel (not illegal but might get you auto-fined under the catch-all of not in proper control) we noted this month that the press have adopted the expression “yellow vultures”, first used (online) by the ABD.

Another letter published in Local Transport Today, this time from Roger Lawson explored: Why cycling will only ever be a minority activity. Also one from Idris Francis challenging figures on the effects of speed cameras used by Cambridgeshire County Council.

After the Daily Mail exposed what an




































































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Compiled by Ian Taylor

We have issued three national press releases this quarter: ‘Air Quality

and Vehicles – The Truth’, and ‘Police Bid to Obtain More Money from Education Courses’, and ‘UK Government Should Follow French Lead and Ban Congestion Charges’.

The ABD’s spokesmen have also been kept busy again by newspapers, radio and online media. Here’s a summary of our activities.

SeptemberIan Taylor did a pre-recorded interview

for Pat Marsh’s Saturday breakfast show on BBC Radio Kent about pavement parking, against Living Streets, a leading promoter of banning it. They both got a “fair crack”. Ian emphasised the benefits if properly allowed in suitable places, with examples, while condemning obstruction. The opposing view was that it was best if assumed forbidden, with exceptions allowed – their spokeswoman displayed an innocent trust in councils not to go on penalty-issuing sprees.

Local Transport Today published a letter from Terry Hudson about the principles of road hierarchy and the calculated costs of road deaths.

Back to BBC Radio Kent and Ian Taylor, on the breakfast show – live this time – was talking about default 20 limits. Anthony Hook (LibDem county councillor) supported Twenty’s Plenty, wanted more money to introduce it all over Kent, and accused Kent County Council of obstructing the process. Terry Hudson and

ABD coverage in the media

abd.org.uk

Hugh was back on BBC Three Counties Radio commenting on the story of a man who was made to take down his own fake speed camera

ineffectual waste of money 20 mph zones are, Bob Bull got a comment online. All Twenty’s Plenty’d Rod King could reply was “You silly, silly man!” Sums up the level of debate.

TaxiPoint Taxi News reported the Mayor of London’s popularity drop – with a comment from Roger Lawson blaming it on his anti-private transport policies.

The Scottish Daily Mail featured a Private Member’s Bill in the Scottish Parliament to reduce all urban speed limits from 30 to 20. Hugh Bladon was asked for a comment. He didn’t hold back.

The Scotsman also quoted challenging accident figures in Local Transport Today on the same subject. The ABD was quoted as calling it “a waste of money” along with one of our straplines: “Don’t let the drive you out of your car.”

Hugh was back on BBC Three Counties Radio commenting on the story of a man who was made to take down his own fake speed camera (which is illegal).

OctoberBBC WM kicked off the month with Nigel

Humphries on HGV speed limits. Hugh Bladon talked on BBC Radio Wales against a Twenty’s Plenty spokeswoman on whether 20 zones result in more or less accidents.

BBC Radio Kent (with new breakfast hosts Anna and Steve) asked about the suggestion from government minister Liz Truss that the motorway limit should go up to 80. (That died a death didn’t it? Distraction from Brexit?) Ian Taylor was on with Steve Horton, Kent’s Casualty Reduction Officer, and started by saying the 70 limit was a panic move after two people were reported racing on the M1 in the 1960s.

Above, Roger Lawson argued that bus lanes should be banned; centre, ABD took part in a radio debate regarding the safety of cyclists; and right, the '20 is plenty' campaign fuelled further radio airtime.

abd.org.uk

Want to get more involved? There are plenty of ways you can helpthe ABD to move forward. Just check out page 20 to find out how

Roger Lawson took a call from BBC News about the latest DfT initiative – a 2-year action plan – to keep people safe on roads.

Back then the average car struggled to reach and maintain 70. Things have moved on and modern cars can happily and safely cruise at 80 or above. Motorways too have improved.

He discounted the view that drivers will always exceed any given limit causing more accidents; drivers do not go faster than they feel comfortable with, 80 is a more natural motorway speed, and evidence from abroad is that accidents do not increase, sometimes the opposite.

When crashes occur they might be more serious because of increased stopping time but braking has improved too, making allowing more space between vehicles more important. We have some of the lowest motorway limits. Faster limits “giving wrong message?” No. Time savings are only a few minutes. Maybe, but when those minutes are multiplied by the thousands of vehicles on any road they add up, therefore the claimed economic benefit is real.

Later in the programme Howard Cox (FairFuel UK) came on and emphasised that point. Their members voted overwhelmingly in a survey in favour of raising the limit. After that good start he then ruined everything by saying that once raised it should be enforced rigidly with severe penalties – and went on to praise smart motorways.

Returning to Ian’s bit, CO2 emissions came up. Well, they increase very slightly, but NOX would decrease and there would be a small fuel saving

Hugh Bladon was again quoted in the Daily Mail about London councils making a million a day “profit” from parking charges and fines. “A huge amount of money, a shocking amount, simply absurd – ripped out of motorists’ pockets when they could easily spend that in shops and businesses to keep the economy going.” The paper gave a breakdown for each London council.

Roger Lawson was interviewed on BBC Radio Four’s PM programme, commenting on the “gesture politics” of amending the Highway Code to make drivers turning left always give way to cyclists and pedestrians. Staying in London, Hugh Bladon appeared on LBC Radio (Nick Ferrari) with his comment on the cyclist who picked his bike up and smashed it down on the bonnet of a £56k Mercedes. Days later he was back again on LBC Radio about the budget cash infusion for potholes.

There was more on speed cameras that can catch you for more than just speed, with Brian Gregory quoted in the Newcastle Chronicle.

BBC Radio Kent (breakfast) looked at speed – “both sides of the question” – too slow on motorways? Too fast in villages? They started with Charlie Elphicke, Dover’s MP, who had caused a stir by calling M20 roadworks cameras “cash cows”, but also campaigned for a drastic lowering of limit on a country road through Nonington – keeping voters happy? As well as more traffic police. They also had on a campaigner from Acol (Thanet). Later Quentin Willson (FairFuel UK) went head-to-head with the campaigners, a policeman and a leading LibDem.

Finally it was Ian Taylor. He made four points: motorway roadwork limits frequently

enforced when no work happening, and for more miles than necessary – and the works take too long. Speed not the main cause of accidents, concentrating on it neglects true causes and has created a “road safety industry” of camera and tech providers and course providers – who need money, which they are making, to sustain themselves and grow – a perverse incentive to penalise “cash cow” drivers. Speed limits need to be set at obviously reasonable levels if they are to command respect. He finished with a favourite strapline: Camera enforcement is automated “justice” – Robocop run by Big Brother.




































































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Up by millions – yearly revenue via parking fines

No significant results following 20 mph limit

Ooh la la – destruction of a speed camera

NovemberHugh Bladon was back in the Scottish Daily

Mail welcoming the small fuel price reduction by supermarkets, but reminding everyone that 70% of the price was still tax.

The Stoke Sentinel had a letter from member Jim Walker about correctly setting speed limits (85th percentile and possibly 5 mph increments), the siting of cameras to catch most people, saying also that the change to setting at 50th percentile was the criminalisation of 50% of drivers for profit. The ABD was mentioned.

Canterbury based paper the Kentish Gazette printed a letter from Terry Hudson complaining that councillors voted to increase their own mileage allowances for using their cars while advising the public to use cars less, and adopting policies to try and force them to. His message: Hypocrisy. Set an example or shut up.

Back in London, Roger Lawson was on again, this time on talkRadio. He stirred up some online reaction by suggesting that bus lanes should be banned because they cause more congestion than they save.

The Daily Mail (and online) reported that councils made around £85 million profit in 2017 from parking charges. Hugh Bladon said this was one cause of the demise of high street shops and that this “robbery” most penalised the poorest.

Roger Lawson took a call from BBC News about the latest DfT initiative – a 2-year action plan – to keep people safe on roads. His comments found their way into a report on BBC News Online. The plan includes a funding boost for police use of video evidence and a new 15% local infrastructure investment goal.

The appointment of a new cycling and walking champion to promote cycle and pedestrian friendly policies – we know what that means – vehicle unfriendly. Fifty measures will include powers against parking in mandatory cycle lanes (when did cyclists ever accept mandatory anything?) and lower speed limits in urban areas. Some people are already proposing not just 20, but 15 or 10 – just like we predicted they would. Also, more time for pedestrians crossing and “constraints” on pavement parking. There will be a review of The Highway Code.

All this after feedback from 14,000-plus people from a list of lobby groups – no prizes for guessing which ones.

Roger’s published comments included scepticism at the suggestion motorists might get reduced insurance premiums if they took a cyclist safety awareness course (more money-making courses!) describing it as gesture politics.

To date, not one insurance company has offered this…

Lastly, Hugh Bladon returned to BBC Three Counties Radio (drivetime) to talk about the latest government report, in particular the revelation that 20 zones have not significantly improved road safety. This had to be rescheduled because Twenty's Plenty refused to go head-to-head with us.

Have they sunk to trying to "no platform" us - or are they simply running scared?

abd.org.uk

Director Ian Taylor, who was re-elected to his position, delivered his update on progress over the past year, which has seen a ‘modest’ increase in membership.




































































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London's future was discussed . . .

The ABD returned to the British Motor Museum at Gaydon for its 2018 annual general

meeting. In addition to the formal business, there

was an in-depth presentation from Brian Gregory, who asked ‘Is There An Urban Vehicle Emissions crisis?’ and shattered many myths over the Government’s obsession with speed reduction on our roads.

Roger Lawson also updated delegates on the AMPOW campaign against the misuse of speed waivers, and the effective work being done in London to oppose mayor Sadiq Khan’s crusade against drivers in the capital.

He urged ABD members in other areas to follow London’s lead, saying: “You can launch local campaigns to challenge local decisions – they have much more impact when they are co-ordinated in a local area.”

Director Ian Taylor, who was re-elected to his position, delivered his update on progress over the past year, which has seen a ‘modest’ increase in membership.

“We still need more hands on deck,” he said. “The committee has grown by two this year but also lost one who passed away. We

are also still operating with the constitutional minimum of three directors, and need at least two more.”

Francis Barnish came forward and took on the membership secretary role last year, and enthusiastically sorted out some messy and ill-maintained systems, as well as starting to retrieve lapsed memberships and trying to get new ones, rather than just keeping records.

Ian said: “Francis deserves a vote of thanks for sorting all that out and (working with Phil Speight) overseeing the introduction of a new, simpler but better computer system for membership and payment records, which is now fully operational.

“The old software has been ditched, saving a a bit of money in the process. Other software accounts involving duplication, have also been closed. We have, partly as a result of getting back in touch with members who had fallen off the system, seen a modest increase in members.

“We still are not attracting enough younger members to replenish ourselves long term. We still have insufficient people at the helm to run the organisation as well as we’d like.

“Unfortunately – for us, not him – Francis went through job changes that have taken

away all his time as well as separating us physically, so yet again we are desperately seeking a new membership secretary.

“Whoever takes it on now will inherit a much smoother running and simpler system.”

Members heard that another brand new website had been created thanks to Roger Lawson and Allister Watt, and blog-style columns and comment articles are being encouraged for inclusion.

Thanks also went to Peter Edwardson who is assisting Hugh Bladon on financial matters.

The past year has seen the introduction of new GDPR regulations, and Ian Taylor said: “We are compliant as far as members are concerned, but there was a problem with our press release subscription list. Dealing with that lost us a number of recipients.”

Although cash has been saved by not having to pay a membership secretary, other charges have increased, including a copyright bill for permission to publish licensed Press Association images in On The Road.

But it’s not all bad news. The meeting was told that a start has been made on re-establishing a network of local campaign managers – there’s more information about this elsewhere in this edition.

GDPR and more at AGM

. . . and in some detail too

Brian Gregory, Ian Taylor and Brian Macdowall in action at the AGM Brian Gregory asked "Is There An Urban Vehicle Emissions crisis?"

There is always an opportunity to ask for interest in membership

abd.org.uk

Public discussion of revelations that 20mph zones are as likely to bring about increases as decreases in accidents, that Speed Awareness Courses have no road safety benefits




































































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Ian said: “If there’s anything nasty for drivers going on where you live and you’d like to add to that list by organising doing something about it, please see Brian Macdowall, who has resumed his position as national campaign manager.”

Campaigning over the next year is likely to focus on three main themes:

1) Road Safety, with two sub-headings; speed limits, their correct setting and enforcement by the right people, and the need for an independent accident investigation body, which might be the same body. This subject could also take in road user training.

2) The cost of road transport (including how to finance) – the case against congestion charging, or any road pricing – a fair deal for drivers.

3) Air Quality, emissions from transport and other sources, and the demonization of the internal combustion engine using pseudo-science.

Ian continued: “As always we’ll comment on current matters of interest in the media and participate in official bodies where we are permitted to make our opinions known and, if we’re lucky, influence decision makers.

“We’ll continue our fights against ever more restrictions, lower speed limits enforced with cameras, road space removal to prioritise other transport modes, whilst encouraging a culture of better road user

training, good driving and good manners on the road.

“This is achieved by our publications and press releases along with media quotes and appearances. Also by participation on bodies like the Road User Panel of Transport Focus.”

The ABD’s input has helped to make a difference in several areas over the past year.

For example, Highways England are upping some roadworks speed limits, especially when and where no work is being done.

Public discussion of revelations that 20mph zones are as likely to bring about increases as decreases in accidents, that Speed Awareness Courses have no road safety benefits.

The Lower Thames Crossing will have three lanes rather than two, and the Strategic Road Network (Highways England) is to be supplemented by a Major Road Network (still under local authority control but funded to a higher standard by VED).

There is also a trial of a Road Accident Investigation Unit, described by Ian as a success in principle, despite some reservations about the detail because operation is by the police and the RAC Foundation – is that independent?

The ABD’s is also being heard on the Road Environment Working party of PACTS, thanks to Malcolm Heymer.

Ian added: “While so-called smart motorways continue to be steam-rollered across the land, there is growing concern about the way variable speed limits are imposed – and the safety of all-lane-running. The ABD voice is in there.

“Subjects raising their ugly heads right now are proposed near-total bans on pavement parking, road closures with a view to banning school runs, and the apparently never-ending battle against Twenty’s Plenty For Us – that’s them, not us.”

And he concluded with this message to members: “Thank you for your support . . . without which we are unable to support you.”

Roger Lawson updated members on the AMPOW campaign

Passionate presentation – Brian Gregory

We love receiving comments from ABD members and supporters about topical

motoring issues . . . and here are a couple of the latest arrivals in the postbag.

Chris Gould wrote to us with this suggestion to ease the parking problems outside schools:

“Nearly every school has a playground. This could be used to drop off and collect children up to say 20 minutes before the school’s starting time.

“The parents would escort their children into the school buildings as soon as they arrive. At the end of the 20 minutes the playground would be cleared and the children allowed into it until the school starts.

“The playground could be used again for collecting children half an hour after the school closed. This would give time for those who walk or travel by bus to be out of the way.

“This would not be practical at the midday lunch break because of the shortage of time. However, a large proportion of the children would be staying for their dinner; so the problem would not be so acute.”

In another debate, Steve Cannon added his views to a facebook discussion we’ve been having about smart motorways.

“These smart motorways are a joke. They are not only dangerous but create congestion and hold-ups which were never there previously.

“You only have to look at the M25 around the M40 M4 junctions to see what a stupid idea it is to reduce speed limits on traffic that had been flowing fine until they hit these variable speed limits.

abd.org.uk

You only have to look at the M25 around the M40 M4 junctions to see what a stupid idea it is to reduce speed limits on traffic that had been flowing fine




































































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Writers add weight to the ABD debate

In brief...l The introduction of 20mph zones across Britain has had no

effect on the number of accidents in inner cities, researchers have found.

The decision to cut the speed limit from 30mph in many towns and cities made “no meaningful difference” to casualty rates compared with other roads, a report in The Times reveals.

Some councils spent up to £1.7 million on making the change but only half of drivers stuck to the lower limit, it said.

Average speeds on affected roads dropped by less than 1mph after the lower limit was introduced. The researchers said it was possible that drops in speed would have been recorded even if the limits had not been introduced because of rising congestion and increased awareness about the risks of speeding.

l Britain's biggest speed camera is set to hit the M4 motorway - and it can film a car from a thousand metres away.

Dubbed 'The Long Ranger' police have unveiled the new weapon in a drive to clamp down on tailgating and speeding.

The camera will be used to police the M4 just across the Severn Bridge.

The new piece of kit doesn't just record speed, it can produce ultra clear video footage and still photographs of vehicles and even the people inside them.

According to Gloucestershire Live, the technology is being first rolled out on the M4 and M5 motorways plus roads other major roads in the area. And other police forces could also soon adopt the high tech camera.

Playgrounds could ease the parking

around schools

According to Steve Cannon, smart motorways create congestion and hold-ups

“This then spreads right the way down the M25 until the end of the useless gantries. What is achieved other than to cost people inconvenience and lost time?

“Highway England is not fit for purpose. If you have all traffic running at 50mph three or four miles back all those that were traveling at a higher speed all catch and the end result is mass bunching up, and even lower speeds.”

l Do you agree or disagree with these views? Don’t forget, we’d love to publish YOUR thoughts on any motoring-related matters. Email [email protected]

abd.org.uk

The ABD has moved swiftly to mobilise public opinion against this iniquitous charging system which the council, despite government pressure, is not compelled to introduce




































































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The ABD has been asked to help fight against the council's plans

Why should you pay more to drive inside the middle ring road in Birmingham? This will mean a daily

charge of between £6

and £12.50 for private

cars. Or £50 to £100 for

commercial vehicles.

If you don’t pay, the fin

e

will be £120 with strict

camera enforcement.

The Council says that

this needs to be done to

reduce air pollu�on but

there are other alterna‐

�ves and there is no

major health crisis.

�ir pollu�on from

vehicles is already falling

rapidly and there is no

cost�benefit jus�fica�on.

You will be paying to

install the scheme and

then fleeced with a daily

charge. It’s about money

not health.

Say NO to paying a toll to drive into BIRMINGHAM

Birmingham City Council want

to charge you for driving into

the city centre. Make sure you

object.

Alliance of British Drivers

Birmingham City Council plans to create a charging zone in the centre

Fight back against Birmingham Emission Charging Zone is onFollowing on from the

successful and ongoing campaign against

emission charges in London, the ABD has launched a similar campaign called ABCAZ - Against Birmingham Clean Air Zone.

Birmingham City Council issued a consultation during last year’s football world cup proposing to charge drivers entering the city centre.

They now plan to create a charging zone for all traffic inside the middle ring road, the A4540.

ABD member Martin Moyes and non-member Nigel Craig appealed the ABD to fight back against the council’s plans.

As a result, we have launched a website, a Facebook group, a postal address, and a campaign leaflet for respondents, which has just begun.

Brian Macdowall, the ABD‘s campaigns director said: “The ABD has moved swiftly to mobilise public opinion against this iniquitous charging system which the council, despite government pressure, is not compelled to introduce.

“I will be traveling to Birmingham to organise support against the zone and welcome the involvement of west midlands ABD members as part of our fightback. We’ll report on developments in the new year.”

WANT TO KNOW MORE?l Website: www.abcaz.org.uk l Facebook: Search for ABCAZl Post: c/o 101 Gravelly Lane Birmingham, B23 6LS

abd.org.uk

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The ABD’s Wales co-ordinator, Giles Pepperell, has put pen to paper to demand action over the money-making exploits of speed awareness

course operations. UKROED Ltd, which operates the NDORS driver education scheme,

recently published its accounts to the end of March 2018. UKROED Ltd is owned by (i.e. is a subsidiary of) a charity named The

Road Safety Trust, another company which published accounts to the same date.

In a letter to media and politicians, Giles asked: “What do these accounts tell us about the massive slush fund that is being operated in the name of road safety?

“In summary UKROED had income of £61.6 million of which £55.9 million was paid to the police.

“Those fees are allegedly to cover the police's administration costs but are in reality used to fund expansion of speed camera operations and other unrelated costs that have nothing much to do with road

Heading to the capital for Transport FocusIan Taylor attended the October meeting of

the Road User panel at Transport Focus’s office in the City of London. Key topics included:l DMUK are working with the British

Parking Association over concerns with services and refuelling.l British Motorcycling Federation (Anna)

are contributing to platooning trials, over which they have concerns, and also with a Blue Riband Enhanced Riding Qualification.l Highways England reported that the

Oxford/Cambridge Expressway plans are underway. l Office of Rail & Road have put a small

fall in Highways England performance levels down to increased traffic levels. Road surface quality has improved in last year and is now up to standard. They are studying how other organisations plan for and cope with unplanned disruption.l Stuart Edwards (Transport Focus)

mentioned improvements to road markings and new solar powered studs (cat’s eyes).l Nick Lyes from the RAC revealed results

of recent surveys which showed top concerns as condition of local roads, hand-held mobile phone use, cost of fuel and insurance, and aggressive behaviour of other road users.

Ian Taylor also distributed copies of ‘Air Quality & Vehicles – The Truth’ and copies of the JJ Leeming book, which were eagerly snapped up.

On the matter of car dependency, he also suggested the expression be used more carefully – it wasn’t the same as addiction, and not necessarily a matter of choice.

“People have no work where they live and increasingly cannot afford to live where they work, making commuting inevitable.

"Would they disparagingly refer to rail commuters as ‘train dependent’? The point was taken.”

Exploited by speedawareness courses

safety as is explained on this web site: www.speed-awareness.org.

“The Road Safety Trust spent only £1.3 million on charitable activities such as research into road safety.

“This payment to police is at a time when they are failing their public generally and not turning out for reported burglaries and shop-lifting offences, etc.

“In addition to the £61.6 million going through the accounts of UKROED there are also fees collected by the course operators. In reality only about 1.3% of cash extracted from drivers goes on road safety programmes.

“In addition, according to a recently published report from the Department for Transport there is no ‘statistically significant effect on the number or severity of injury collisions’ from attendance at a speed awareness course (in other words, NO BENEFIT WHATSOEVER).”

Giles continues: “It is surely very odd that the Government permits the operations of these companies to continue. It would seem they are self-perpetuating and self-governed organisations which are outside of Government control and which consume £100 million every year of road users' cash while they have no direct impact on road casualties.

“It is essentially the police offering a police waiver for not being

prosecuted by paying to go on a course from which multiple parties benefit, including the police. If that isn’t perverting the course of justice I don’t know what is.

“If everyone received a fixed penalty notice for an offence then much more money would end up in HM Treasury. This is why the hypothecation setup of so called safety camera partnerships between such public bodies as police forces, local authorities, CPS, and courts system, propagating more and more speed cameras and local partnership ‘empires’ was ended in the mid to late noughties.

“To be clear, I am not for massive prosecution for a fraction over an arbitrarily set speed number, road and weather conditions at the time is very important. Inappropriate speed is only a factor in about only 11% of all injury collisions reported to the police.

“Personally I have noticed a lot of speed limits being lowered unnecessarily by councils over the past 10-15 years, with the absence of any evidence for them to do so but merely by such things as councillor pressure rather than actual danger.”

Many drivers caught speeding will be offered an awareness course

UKROED made £61.6 million

abd.org.uk

We are facing the anomalous situation that petrol/diesel vehicle owners are paying much more tax than electric vehicle owners




































































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Win £1,000 . . . and help the GovernmentThe UK Government is facing a

major challenge to its taxation income from the growth in

the number of electric and hybrid vehicles.

ABD Member Roger Lawson is offering a prize of £1,000 to whoever can come up with the best solution to the problem.

Background: The Alliance of British Drivers has consistently

opposed road pricing and congestion charging. Our members do not support road pricing because they see it as a very expensive way of collecting tax on transport and would likely lead to a major rise in such taxes. They also see it as discriminatory in that it will affect the poorer sections of the community more than the wealthy while at present those who consume more diesel/petrol fuel do at least pay more.

In addition, many road pricing systems suggest those who travel at peak times should be paying more which affects the ordinary working person much more than the other sections of the community. Road pricing systems often involve constant vehicle tracking which many people view as an invasion of privacy.

However there is a major problem looming in that the Government is highly dependent on taxes on vehicle fuel. Fuel duty and VAT on fuel represent over 60% of the price you pay for petrol or diesel.

Fuel duty alone generated tax of £27.9 billion in the 2016-17 tax year which is almost as much as the UK Defence Budget to give you some idea of where the money goes. Fuel duty tax income is forecast to rise to £30.6 billion in the 2022-23 tax year according to the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR), i.e. a 9.6% rise over the next 5 years.

But overall taxes are forecast to rise by 20% in that period due to a growing economy and inflation. So fuel duty is already forecast to fall as a proportion of overall taxes. You might say this is a good thing as motorists often consider they are excessively taxed, but the forecast fall is mainly due to increased fuel economy.

Electric cars (both “plug-ins” and hybrids) pose a major threat to the Government’s tax income because fuel duty alone is about 4% of overall tax take, and then there is the VAT paid in addition. Electric vehicle owners obviously pay for their electricity when they plug in at home or elsewhere. In the former case though they are only paying VAT at the “domestic” rate of 5%, rather than the normal 20%.

Electric car users pay substantially less in fuel costs than diesel/petrol owners. For example a Jaguar 3.0 diesel XF owner who drives 10,000 miles per year will pay about £35 per week for fuel while a Tesla Model S owner will pay about £12 per week. You can see that apart from the loss of fuel duty when owners buy an electric vehicle, there is also a very substantial loss of VAT income. There is

some more data on this in this report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies here: https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/9178 although they may be underestimating the possible impact.

We are facing the anomalous situation that petrol/diesel vehicle owners are paying much more tax than electric vehicle owners. Perhaps that could be justified on environmental grounds but when the majority of vehicles are electric (which may happen sooner than you think) the Government will be confronted with a major drop in revenue from vehicle users. Should the Government simply raise other taxes to compensate? Or should it look at alternative ways of raising the missing tax?

There are of course other taxes paid by vehicle owners in addition to taxes on the fuel consumed. Vehicle excise duty (VED) is paid annually by vehicle owners. From the 1st of April 2018, that is zero for a zero-emission vehicle valued at less than £40,000. Other vehicles pay £140 per annum, or as much as £2,070 in the first year depending on its CO2 emissions.

A new vehicle purchase is also taxed at the normal VAT rate of 20% but electric vehicles qualify for a “Plug-in Grant” of 35% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £4,500 for higher cost vehicles.

You can see that here also electric vehicle owners are paying much less tax than diesel/petrol vehicle owners at present.

What should the Government do about this situation in the longer term? Should it consider road pricing or look to raise other taxes? It could of course raise VED on all vehicles not just on higher emission diesel/petrol vehicles as they have recently done. They might need to add VED tax on zero emission electric vehicles once they have become a substantial proportion of the vehicle fleet. High rates of VED negatively impact those who drive few miles so their taxation would not relate to their use of the roads or their emissions.

So tell us how you think the Government should solve this problem. Please start writing now. You need to get your entry in before the 28th February 2019.

How to enter: Please submit an article on how you think

the Government should solve this problem over the next few years. The article should be capable of being published (you assign the copyright in the article to the ABD as a condition of entry) and should be no more than 1,500 words.

The sole winner of the competition will be the person adjudged to have submitted the best entry by the ABD board of directors. Entries must be submitted before the entry date given above and a decision will be published within 3 calendar months of that date and the winner notified via email. The prize is £1,000 in cash. The closing date for entries may be extended by the ABD directors if there are too few entries or they are of insufficient quality to justify an award of the prize.

Entries must be submitted as digital documents, e.g. Word, pdf, .txt files or other commonly used digital formats and sent to Roger Lawson (the ABD member who is the organiser of this competition and who is putting up the prize) at [email protected] with “Prize competition Entry” in the message title line.

Only ABD Members who are up to date with their ABD Membership subscription can enter the competition. ABD Membership can be obtained from here: http://www.abd.org.uk/join/ . The directors of the ABD and any persons connected to them are barred from entering.

Road pricing suggestions will not be ruled out but if that is included in the proposals then you will need to justify how your proposal will overcome the current objections of many people to road pricing. Proposals should be preferably cost neutral, i.e. not impose higher taxes on road users than currently apply, or actually reduce the taxation burden on road users.

As the world moves towards electric motoring, what taxation will replace fuel duty?

abd.org.uk

The board has decided to ‘streamline’ itself for greater efficiency. In future each director will take prime responsibility of an aspect of our activities.




































































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Teething problems – an ABD apologyAs with any organisation we have to keep

moving forward and keep a watch on ‘costs’At the beginning of 2018 it was decided

that we needed to upgrade and move our membership database to another supplier.

One of our members suggested MemberMojo as he was using this for another club he was involved in.

Unfortunately a few months into the project, Francis, our then membership secretary, had a career change, which meant he was away from home and was

unable to continue as membership secretary.Then in May we had the EU General Data

Protection Regulation (GDPR) imposed on us.The transfer of data to the new system,

lack of membership secretary and compliance to GDPR, made for a rather hectic year!

A really big ‘Thank You’ must go to members Phil Speight and Chris Ward that have toiled for many, many hours to mastermind this changeover.

But of course, as with any new system

there has been certain teething problems, which may have found members not getting renewal notices on time, ‘lost’ membership monies, renewal notices after they have re-joined etc etc.

So apologies for the inconvenience to some members.

This has been a bit of a learning year, and hopefully as problems disappear, things will be running much smoother in the future.

Terry HudsonActing membership secretary

Ringing in the changes for board of directorsChanges are afoot on the

Board of Directors of the Alliance of British Drivers.

Firstly, a big welcome to our new director, Paul Biggs who officially took office on 1st November.

Actually, it’s more accurate to say a big welcome back, since Paul was a committee member a while ago.

For the benefit of those members not at the AGM this year, our founder, Brian Gregory has announced that on his 65th birthday, in February, he’ll be stepping down as chairman – he will, however remain as a director. It is yet to be decided who may be the next chairman – possibly a temporary joint arrangement.

The board has decided to ‘streamline’ itself for greater efficiency. In future each director will take prime responsibility of an aspect of our activities.

Brian Gregory will become our Policy Director, which will include research. He will work in close co-operation with Paul Biggs who steps back into his old position of Environmental Spokesman.

Brian Macdowall is our National

Campaigns Manager, and will oversee, at national level, the running of our campaigning and liaise with the growing number of our local campaign managers (see elsewhere in this issue). That is likely to keep his hands full.

Ian Taylor has responsibility for Finance and Public Relations – which includes press releases, websites and social media.

The directors won’t be doing all these jobs themselves of course, but will just be the reporting line for those carrying out functions within their area of responsibility.

Hugh Bladon is still Treasurer, Chris Lamb still runs the PR system, Chris Ward is still Webmaster, with Roger Lawson and Alister Watt still keeping the “new” website going.

Ian says: “If I need technical input, I’ll consult Malcolm Heymer or Paul Biggs, as ever. Anyone from the committee is welcome to submit proposed press releases to me. We’ll all continue to work alongside the National Committee.

“Our hope is that we’ll be able to respond more readily and quickly to situations.”

Director Paul Biggs steps back into his old position of Environmental Spokesman

Drivers too accepting?The French government has swiftly reacted to recent riots

and scrapped plans to introduce urban tolls - or congestion charges as we know them.

It is not in the British driver’s nature to protest and riot, but the ABD has urged the UK government to follow the French lead and scrap the rights given to local authorities to introduce local tolls and parking fees ad hoc with no regulation whatsoever.

ABD spokesman Nigel Humphries said: “Councils all over Britain are looking at plans to punish and fine those they perceive as ‘polluters’ with no scientific evidence of a problem.

“These are often set to trap even recent ‘economy cars’. This will be a disastrous effect of ‘localism’ and is totally unjustified. The London ULEZ is already an example of this. It must be stamped out now or the British habit of rolling over and accepting all could change come election time.”

Your pictures can help us tell the whole story

The ABD is also keen to update its library of photographs for use in On The Road . . . and we’re hoping that members and supporters can help us to do it.

If you have a controversial road junction, a money-making speed camera, a bus lane, a ‘Twenty’s Plenty’ sign in your neighbourhood – or an example of inconsiderate parking, perhaps, why not take a snap of it and submit it to be added to our library.

We’re always on the lookout for good ‘stock’ pictures which provide perfect illustrations for some of the most contentious issues, and we want to give as good a geographical spread of the country as possible.

Nothing is off limits – country lanes, urban traffic jams, motorway junctions, busy roundabouts . . . we’d love to see them all.

Simply snap an image or your phone or camera, and email it to [email protected], confirming that you give us permission for it to be published at the appropriate time, when a relevant story arises.

abd.org.uk

Some claims about weather contradict the laws of physics and are used to frighten, we were told – ‘Project Fear’?




































































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The ABD was represented at The Global Warming Policy Foundation’s annual lecture,

called ‘Global Warming For The Two Cultures’.

What does it have to do with motoring matters? Ian Taylor explains: “We take an interest in these matters because the subject is used to demonise us.”

This year they had a scientist - a long standing sceptic of climate alarmism, and one of the most highly qualified: Professor Richard S Lindzen, Emeritus Professor of Meteorology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He started by referring to ‘the absurd narrative of global warming’ which he described as ‘malicious manipulation of non-scientists by politicians’.

Ian said: “He gave a brief history of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and those who formed it.

“Decarbonisation is the declared goal – to control CO2 and therefore climate. Extreme measures are called for – which is dangerous because many calling for them are wealthy and it risks creating a new serfdom. This part was timely, coming on the same day as a new doom-laden IPCC report hit the headlines.

Industrial societyis in the crosshair

Wide ranging debateIan Taylor attended the November meeting of the Parliamentary

Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS). The wide ranging debate included a presentation from the Health and

Safety Executive , and a question-and answer session. They included discussion around the proportion of law-breaking

foreign truckers on the road, and training of the authorities over the use of video footage from dash-cams.

Mention was made of the DEAD SLOW campaign to reduce speeds, posing the controversial question: Do potholes act as traffic calmers and should we be so concerned to repair as may be a safety measure by curbing speeds – or should they be regarded as a danger because of damage they incur and repair be prioritised?

Ian said: “Amazingly, some present thought them a good thing – however the cyclists and motorcyclists had very definite views on that!”

Among the reports from working parties was a look at the potential of car restraint developments, in particular designs for better seat belts, and protection for older drivers/passengers, and the application of systems on older vehicles.

Ian Taylor represented the ABD at The Global Warming Policy Foundation's annual lecture

“The conference was told about underwhelming evidence, saying the models used as evidence are the equivalent of a marksman shooting first and then deciding what the target hit was to be.

“Some claims about weather contradict the laws of physics and are used to frighten, we were told – ‘Project Fear’?

“The rate of sea level rise (with us since

Happy on journeyA new survey by independent watchdog Transport Focus has

found that 82 per cent of road users are satisfied with their last journey using a motorway or major ‘A’ road managed by Highways England.

Satisfaction with journey time is also 82 per cent, but road surface quality fares less well at 79 per cent.

The management of roadworks is lower - 65 per cent of those surveyed were satisfied and only half (51 per cent) were satisfied with this activity in the south east region.

Most drivers - 93 per cent - are satisfied with how safe they feel on Highways England’s roads. Information on permanent road signs scores well at 89 per cent satisfaction. Information provided on electronic signage fares less well at 83 per cent.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of independent watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Our new Strategic Roads User Survey offers the most significant and robust picture ever of driver satisfaction on the motorways and major ‘A’ roads maintained by Highways England.”

the end of the Ice Age) has not changed. Forecasts are exaggerated to scare. The reported Greenland ice decrease is cherry-picked data.”

“The green agenda quite simply has as its ultimate objective the destruction of industrial society.

“Economists at least acknowledge different views . . . climate alarmists don’t.”

Decarbonisation is the declared goal – to control CO2 and therefore climate

abd.org.uk

Is there any obvious road safety benefit as a result of this attack on speeding, or the education forced on drivers? No, there is not.




































































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Many people, including some ABD members, have questioned why the Alliance

of British Drivers is running a campaign against speed awareness courses.

Is it not preferable to do a course and avoid those points on your license? It’s only a few hours of your time, and if you collect enough points you risk losing your licence, while the course might be educational.

But the reasons we are running the AMPOW campaign (Against the Misuse of Police Waivers – (see https://www.speed-awareness.org/) are several. I’ll spell them out:

The police are obtaining revenue from a cut of the fees paid to attend courses which they then use to expand their speed camera activities, buy more speed cameras, hire more staff, and process more tickets. This has resulted in more than 1.2 million drivers going on a course now every year.

Is there any obvious road safety benefit as a result of this attack on speeding, or the education forced on drivers? No, there is not. A study commissioned by the Government which reported this year showed there was no statistically significant reduction in accidents among people who had been on such education courses.

In 2007, partly as a result of ABD pressure, the Government decided that camera operations had got out of hand and were distorting road safety activities so they stopped the diversion of the fines to safety camera operations and the money now goes to the Treasury who allocate it to road safety programmes.

But by 2011 senior police staff had invented a way around this – namely the use of ‘waivers of prosecution’ to divert drivers to education courses whereby the police can collect a cut which is now £45. They claim this simply covers the administration cost, but the ABD has lots of evidence that this is simply not true. In effect an industry has been created, often employing former police officers, whereby money extraction from harmless drivers is the prime focus of the operation.

Where you pay money to obtain a waiver of prosecution you are in effect paying a bribe to the police. This is simply a corrupt practice and a perversion of justice. Failing to prosecute is undoubtedly an improper exercise of police powers. Why has this illegality not been challenged?

The Government did propose to make it legal by a proposed Act of Parliament in 2016 but the relevant part of the Bill was dropped so it is still illegal. But the Police and NDORS who operate the system have avoided legal challenges to date.

Perhaps the recent decision by police in Scotland not to introduce waivers and

Why is the ABD challenging speed points alternative?

speed-awareness courses in that country is a recognition that there is something fundamentally wrong with the practice as has been adopted in England and Wales.

Would road safety statistics be significantly improved if everyone stuck religiously to the speed limits? The simple answer is no, because exceeding the speed limit is a contributory factor in only 5% of accidents and most of those also involve stolen vehicles or other criminal activity.

This focus by the police on automated enforcement of speed is an enormous waste of resources that would be much better focussed on other road safety measures such as improved road engineering, education of younger drivers, accident investigation and other programmes.

The financial incentives created by the speed-awareness industry have distorted road

By Roger Lawson

Exceeding the speed limit is a contributory factor in only 5% of accidents

safety priorities and this is shown in the road casualty figures which have not been falling as fast as they should have been. In effect instead of saving lives and serious injuries the focus has been on generating cash.

Note that the ABD is not opposed to such education courses being offered to convicted speed offenders as part of the sentencing procedure, as was originally intended.

It might have a benefit in some cases. But sending millions of people on such courses most of whom will have been driving only slightly above the limit (courses cannot be offered to gross infringers) is clearly a waste of time. That is borne out by the statistics and from reports of those who have attended such courses.

There is a lot more information on the industry of speed awareness courses and why they are a distortion of our legal system on the web site mentioned above. Please register an interest in our campaign against it.

If you get offered a speed awareness course, simply refuse to participate in this perversion of justice. Say that you refuse to pay because by doing so you would be party to a criminal offence. Use the reasons given on our campaign website. If everyone did this, the whole system would soon collapse. Remember if you pay to go on a speed-awareness course, you are helping to pay for more speed cameras.

You should also complain to your Member of Parliament, because it is them who can put a stop to this waste of national resources and gross corruption.

l Follow the campaign on Twitter via @AmpowABD

The ABD is not opposed to education

abd.org.uk

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Our 2,700 kilometre, (1700 mile), nine-day excursion in southern Sweden this year,

with our long standing Swedish friends, was a magnificent driving holiday.

In incorporated stunning countryside, lakes, and islands, including a fascinating transport museum on the island of Gotland and an equally exciting Swedish air force museum near the air force base at Lidkoeping where the Saab built superiority fighter is located.

As someone who once unsuccessfully underwent RAF fast jet training, this proved to be an absorbing visit.

As readers will know, Sweden is the birthplace of the ill-conceived ‘Null Visionen’ (Zero Vision). The accident mitigation (instead of accident prevention) based strategy is alive and thriving in its birthplace.

Large tracts of urban areas and rural villages are now saddled with 40, 30, and 20kph limits; sometimes camera-enforced.

All minor roads (some of them arrow-straight, wide and of high quality) are universally saddled with 70kph (circa 44mph) limits, and occasional cameras; again usually at junctions.

Many wide non-urban trunk roads with an additional, quite wide escape lane running alongside the main carriageway have 80kph limits with lengthy 70, 60, and even 50kph

Most fixed cameras were at,or near, junctions

countdown stretches - frequently camera-enforced - approaching any junctions.

Only the widest, best quality single-carriageways have 90kph; again with countdown limits and frequently camera enforcement near junctions.

We saw no mobile enforcement during our journey.

Most fixed cameras were at, or near, junctions. Intentionally nondescript in design, they are invariably advance-signposted; unlike the UK not (yet?) appearing to be primarily revenue-motivated.

The previously mainly 110kph E6 motorway stretch from Malmö area up to Gothenburg's approaches is now 120kph.

Although a tad more realistic, this has had little effect on traffic speeds: the 85th

Many wide non-urban trunk roads with an additional, quite wide escape lane running alongside the main carriageway have 80kph limits

By Brian Gregory

l Would you like to write for our Travel Snapshots column? You can turn the motoring-related spotlight on any city, town or village you live in, or have visited.

Send us around 500 words – and lots of pictures, to [email protected]

TRAVEL SNAPSHOTS

TRAVEL SNAPSHOTS

percentile is still probably nearer 135kph than 120.

Under free flowing conditions, the lower 110, 90, and 80kph limits applied closer to Gothenburg achieve poor compliance levels.

Given Swedish traffic densities outside the main conurbations, the authorities have adopted a ‘half-way house’ approach with many recent road improvements to separate the carriageway halves.

Each half alternates in sizeable stretches, often up to 5km.

We only encountered one old-style, three-lane ‘suicide’ stretch; the middle (third) lane being available for overtakes by road users in either opposing lane.

Null Visionen? I think not!

A vision to behold

abd.org.uk

In the first half of the 20th century transport changed hugely but telephones hardly at all. In the second half and beginning of the 21st it was the other way round.




































































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On the evening of 14th November I attended the annual Hyek Lecture organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs in London.

As so often happens at such events I was able to network over drinks with acquaintances from The TaxPayers’ Alliance and The Freedom Association as well.

The speaker was Viscount Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist and The Evolution of Everything, both books I recommend to get you thinking. His specialisation is the subject of innovation through history – and he is an enthusiastic supporter of fracking and of GM crops and foods.

How Many Light Bulbs Does It Take To Change The World? Was the title of the evening. He started by saying that the innovation of light bulbs was something no-one saw coming, but when it did no less than 21 people invented it at around the same time (the 1870s), even though less people made it to the patent office in time to claim the invention fame.

It appeared when the time was ripe – bottom-up from collective developments. It was a similar story with steam engines, and more recently with search engines; bottom-up evolution by trial and error. Nobody alone created the computer or the internet – or the English language.

Knowledge is limitless, therefore so are ideas and innovations, but inventions come only when conditions are right. Experts are hopeless at prediction.

In the first half of the 20th century transport changed hugely but telephones hardly at all. In the second half and beginning of the 21st it was the other way round. It was not true that that innovation destroys jobs, because as some go, new ones are created, more diverse and specialist. Forced self-sufficiency brought poverty, as Mao Zedong found out.

Exchange, specialisation and trade triggered innovation. Some innovations were slow to take off because of economics – uneconomic innovation that grows has done so only if and when subsidised – e.g. renewable energy. Society could create new investment and activities without state control or commercial monopoly.

You could not invent things before they were ready to be invented. Powered light had to wait for engines; computing software had to wait for programmable computers, which in turn had to wait for semiconductors. Even wheeled suitcases came at about the right time as airports and air travel expanded. It was surprisingly hared to plan, predict or stimulate innovation, let alone force it.

Innovation was opposed and stifled by vested interests, public and private. He gave some examples: Dyson versus the German vacuum cleaner industry; London cabbies once tried to ban the umbrella (and later Uber); canal owners tried to prevent the railways. The much lauded scientific peer review could sometimes act against new ideas. Patents and copyrights were intended to encourage invention and innovation but have been used to stop it. Occupational licensing and government favouritism also did much to innovators out.

The European Union adoption of the Precautionary Principle (in the Lisbon Treaty) was one reason he voted Leave. If you don’t allow any risk at all you preclude doing anything for the first time, he said. He wanted the Precautionary Principle (theoretical downsides) to be balanced against an Innovation Principle (likely upsides).

You may be wondering what all this has to do with the ABD? Well, historically we have seen how just about every transport innovation had its critics, railways, even bicycles – and not least the car. Looking to the future, there are at least two major upheavals looming on the horizon. A (hopefully gradual) switch to electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles (AVs) that may eventually need no drivers.

Bearing in mind what just said about prediction and forced change, these are not inevitable or certain. But, if in the coming years either or both develop to be economical – there is popular demand for them, then opposition would end up on the wrong side of history.

How many lightbulbs does it take to change the world?

Knowledge is limitless – so are ideas and innovations

Questions and answersA small selection of points from the Q&A session:

Q One regulation to get rid of?A The Precautionary Principle – GM food just one example of Britain getting left behind and missing out.

Q Why so much innovation in the digital world?A Because less restricted by legislation – so far.

Q Does genetics have the potential to limit human freedom?A What’s the risk? So far has been liberating. Instead of super-soldiers we got IVF. He thought the same would happen if we got genetic editing – the demand would be

to remove disease risk.

Q What about innovation incentives? Might technology lead to totalitarianism?A He liked encouragement as long as did not attempt to predict. We initially have thought of technology as liberating. The worry about state or corporate misuse – which could happen – had so far manifested mainly in the Far East – but the genie was out of the bottle and could not be put back in.

Both these subjects are very controversial, especially among ABD members, so my final thoughts here are my personal opinion, not ABD policy, to stimulate some constructive debate.

Let’s imagine that EVs do come through. I don’t think even the most ardent internal combustion engine fan would deny people their choice. AVs raise more hackles, but if – repeat if – they became safe and affordable – might the population at large view them as liberating?

No need to learn to drive, pay the earth for tests, licences and insurance, freedom of mobility maintained, indeed enhanced because non-drivers would be included – and an absolute boon to the disabled and those elderly unable to continue driving – which I have to say includes many ABD members as time goes on.

If there was a demand, the painful question arises: Who are we to deny them? Meaningful and constructive answers welcome.

By Ian Taylor

abd.org.uk

Most new vehicles are very clean, including diesel vehicles, and the numbers of older ones are reducing as time elapses, especially by the time this road is built




































































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Just in case you are not aware, there is (yet another) consultation on the Dartford Crossing which finishes on 20th December

2018. This is the official statutory consultation. There is a link to the survey: https://highwaysengland.

citizenspace.com/ltc/consultation/The comments section contains a couple of questions

pertinent from an ABD point of view; you may be interested in the answers I gave.

“Charging” is described as a ‘road charge’, claiming that a toll infers a charge to recoup the cost of building the road!"

THIS CROSSING SHOULD BE FREE TO USE AS IT WILL FORM AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE SOUTH-EAST'S ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE.

We pay enough road-related taxes as it is to provide for the upkeep of this new road.

Secondly, the thought of charging for emissions is outrageous. Most new vehicles are very clean, including diesel vehicles,

and the numbers of older ones are reducing as time elapses, especially by the time this road is built.

Emissions charging such as that proposed by the Mayor of London, would encourage such vehicles to use the longer route via the Dartford crossing, thereby causing much more overall pollution in the South East.

Regarding construction timescales: Once started, this project must be completed in the shortest possible time.

This means 24 hours a day, seven days a week in unpopulated areas.

Roadworks often take far too long to complete because they are unattended for unnecessarily long periods.

Alan Mobbs Whatever you do, don't forget to pay the toll - or face a hefty penalty

Pavement parking in Passau, Germany, where a defined portion of the footpath is available for your trusty motor car

Freedom of the road comes at a real price

Path to common sense is an easy oneThere’s been

much discussion in recent issues of On The Road about pavement parking.

Should cars be banned from ever parking on pedestrian areas, or do we simply need drivers to apply a dose of common sense? During his most recent holiday, ABD director Ian Taylor captured this image of pavement parking in Passau, Germany.

“Another example of pavement parking that works…” he says.

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In reality air quality has been steadily improving and will continue to do so from technical improvements to vehicles. Meanwhile life expectancy has been increasing.




































































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The Alliance of British Drivers says it has been very concerned of late with the

misinformation spread by the national media about the impact of air pollution from vehicles on the health of the population.

We believe it is not a major health crisis but simply a major health scare fed to a gullible public by a few politicians and journalists wanting a story.

The ABD has now published a document which, it says, will allow people to see the truth.

The promotion of such stories has also led to Government over-reaction and a number of local councils proposing ‘Clean Air Zone’ schemes aimed at restricting some vehicles from entering some roads, or charging them extra to do so in the name of reducing pollution.

London is in the forefront of charging drivers using pollution as an excuse (for example, from the Ultra Low Emission Zone), but many other cities are planning similar schemes.

The prime objective often appears to be simply the desire to extract money from car drivers and other vehicle users.

The ABD has now published a full analysis of the issues which it feels rebuts many of the allegations.

Is there actually a public health crisis? The simple answer, in the ABD’s view, is NO, because the evidence does not support such claims.

In reality air quality has been steadily improving and will continue to do so from technical improvements to vehicles. Meanwhile life expectancy has been increasing. There is no public health crisis!

Life expectancy might be improved slightly,

Is there actually a public health crisis? The simple answer, in the ABD’s view, is NO, because the evidence does not support such claims.

Is pollution ofthe populationa real thing?

for example by a few days if all air pollution was removed.

But air pollution does not just come from vehicles but from many other sources of human activity such as heating, industrial processes, farming, building, cooking and domestic wood burners. Only about 50% comes from transport.

The air outside is typically cleaner than in people’s own homes or in offices and that is where they spend most of the time.

Removing all air pollution would be

economically very expensive and leave us with no transport (buses, trains, aeroplanes or cars) and also stop all deliveries of food and other goods. You would not want to live in such a world.

We give all the evidence on our claims above in the aforementioned paper.

But the ABD does accept that air pollution does need to be improved, particularly in certain locations, and we recognise public concern about it.

However, we argue that measures taken to improve matters should be proportionate and cost effective.

There needs to be a proper cost/benefit analysis before imposing restrictions or charges.

There are many measures that can be used to reduce vehicle emissions without restricting motorists or imposing major extra costs on them.

And the overall conclusion? There is certainly no need to panic over air pollution!

The full analysis can be downloaded from: https://www.freedomfordrivers.org/Air-Quality-and-Vehicles-The-Truth.pdf

Cleaner exhaust fumes are common place

Ultra low emissions are the norm in London

The ABD believes there is no public health crisis. The truth about air quality and vehicles spells out the association's views.

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As a result of people coming forward at this year’s AGM, the good news is that two more local ABD campaigns are in the process of setting up in different parts of the country.




































































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Last time I reported on the start being made to rebuilding some sort of

local campaigning network, which had been active only in London (Roger Lawson) and Kent (Terry Hudson).

Bob Bull was going to do something about proposals for emission charges (and other nasties like workplace parking charges – which we fought off once in conjunction with the Tax Payers’ Alliance and local business a few years ago). That is about to start.

As a result of people coming forward at this year’s AGM, the good news is that two more local ABD campaigns are in the process of setting up in different parts of the country.

Following his presentation at the AGM, Dave Bottrell is setting up a group in Stockton (Teesside & North Yorkshire).

Martin Moyes and others are also launching a group to oppose Clean Air Zone charging and restrictions planned by Birmingham City Council.

The Birmingham campaign is called Against Birmingham Clean Air Zone (ABCAZ), operating under the ABD banner. They come complete with their own website and Facebook page. We are providing leaflets, based on those successfully used with the London Mayor’s Strategy (and CAZ) campaigns.

Details of how to get in touch with all our campaign co-ordinators can be found on the back page.

Local campaigns grow

Anything London can do – the Birmingham Clean Air Zone, seen here in green, has been proposed

By Ian Taylor

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People old enough to have driven in the 1960s and 1970s will remember that Britain had some of the best maintained road surfaces in Europe




































































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The Taxpayers' Alliance organised a competition to identify the best transport

infrastructure projects that could replace HS2 – and the ABD has delivered its own proposals.

Entries for the ‘Great British Transport Competition’ will be judged by an expert panel, including qualified surveyors, politicians and rail industry experts. The winning bids will be professionally costed and presented to ministers, and the winner is due to be announced in January 2019.

Malcolm Heymer, who submitted our proposals, said: “For decades, funding to maintain Britain’s road network in a serviceable condition has been inadequate, especially the bulk of road mileage for which local authorities are responsible.

“The result has been severe deterioration of road surfaces and, in some cases, structural failure. The plague of potholes is causing millions of pounds worth of damage to vehicles each year and, in the worst cases, loss of life.

“This is unacceptable in a first world country. Reallocation of funding from HS2 could be used to clear the backlog of outstanding carriageway renewals and then provide an ongoing fund for preventative maintenance, to keep the network in the condition that road users have a right to expect.”

Here are the main points from the ABD submission:

Choice of alternative transport project

People old enough to have driven in the 1960s and 1970s will remember that Britain had some of the best maintained road surfaces in Europe. We scoffed at the ‘chaussée déformée’ warnings of crumbling roads in France and the soft suspensions of French cars designed to cope with them. Not any longer. Decades of underinvestment in UK road maintenance have resulted in Britain’s roads now being some of the worst maintained in Europe, with serious financial and safety consequences for road users.

The Asphalt Industry Alliance’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey shows that road user compensation claims for damage caused by road defects cost local authorities in England and Wales £28.3m in 2017. The true cost is almost certainly higher, as many drivers will not have claimed or had their claims rejected due to legal loopholes, often unfairly.

People have died as a direct result of unsafe road surfaces. There have been several cases of cyclists being killed after hitting potholes and falling off their bikes, sometimes being hit by other vehicles as a result. No doubt some other loss of control accidents among motorised road users can be partially attributed to carriageway or road surface defects.

So, how could we improve the crumbling transport network?

The failure of successive governments to understand the importance of the road network to the national economy is extraordinary, especially as the government’s own statistics clearly demonstrate that importance. Cars, vans, taxis, buses, coaches, motor cycles and pedal cycles accounted for 89 per cent of all passenger kilometres in the UK in 2016.

Road transport accounted for 76 per cent of domestic freight tonne kilometres moved in the UK in 2015. The road network is thus by far the most important part of the nation’s transport system. Without it, both

Cyclists have been killed after hitting potholes and falling off into the path of other vehicles

the economy and society would collapse. It is proposed, therefore, that 85 per cent of the funding released by the scrapping of HS2 should be used to clear the backlog of surface and structural carriageway damage to the road network in England and Wales, and to provide a fund for ongoing maintenance to a high standard in the future. It is suggested that the remaining 15 per cent be used to fund local capacity improvements to the rail network between London, the Midlands and the North of England, since the government now maintains that the purpose of HS2 was to boost capacity rather than reduce journey times.

Money saved by scrapping HS2 could fund local capacity improvements on the existing network

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The scale of the backlog in road maintenance

The annual ALARM surveys published by the Asphalt Industry Alliance cover roads in England and Wales that are the responsibility of local highway authorities. The strategic road network (SRN) is managed and maintained by Highways England and is outside the scope of ALARM. The SRN is generally maintained to a better standard than local roads, so the ABD’s submission relates primarily to the need to improve and maintain the latter. In England and Wales, there are more than 204,000 miles of local highway authority roads, representing 97 per cent of the total road network with an asset value of £395 billion. While there may be merit in providing extra funding to further improve maintenance standards on the SRN, the costs quoted hereafter relate only to local highway authority roads.

The 2018 ALARM survey shows that years of underfunding for local highway maintenance have left the network in a parlous state. More than 24,000 miles of road need repairing within the next year and 1 in 5 local roads could experience structural failure within the next five years. The total highway maintenance budget for England and Wales in 2017/18 was £3.46 billion, but on average only 56 per cent of this was used for carriageway maintenance, the rest being used on bridge maintenance or structural work, and cyclical maintenance such as sweeping, grass cutting, traffic signals and street lighting.

The shortfall between the annual budgets that highways departments say they need

More than 24,000 miles of road need repairing

to keep their roads in ‘reasonable’ order, and the amount they actually receive, was reported in 2017/18 as £556 million, equating to an average funding gap of £3.3 million per authority. The estimated one-off cost of clearing the maintenance backlog is quoted as £9.31 billion and would take fourteen years to complete, according to the highway authorities responding to the ALARM survey.

The way forward

While the figure of over £9 billion to bring the local road network up to scratch sounds high, the ABD is concerned that it might be a serious underestimate. Local highway authorities that have become used to persistent underfunding may have lowered their sights with regard to what is a ‘reasonable’ standard to which they should aspire. To bring failing roads up to a level from which future planned and timely

The ABD believes that the bulk of funding released from cancellation of HS2 should be used to restore the local roads network in England and Wales

maintenance should keep them in a good condition could cost considerably more. The ABD would not be surprised if the total cost turned out to be £18-20 billion.

It is also unacceptable that the process should take as long as fourteen years. It would obviously take time for highway authorities and civil engineering contractors to gear themselves up for a greatly expanded programme of carriageway renewals and resurfacings. Care must be taken also that not too many roads are closed or restricted at the same time, to minimise disruption to the travelling public. Nevertheless, the aim should be to clear the maintenance backlog within ten years.

In addition to the cost of restoring the road network to a sound condition, a fund needs to be set up and managed to ensure that finance is available thereafter to maintain the network in that condition. The local roads network must never again be allowed to sink into the state of disrepair it is in today. It is likely that the fund would need to be of a similar size to the one-off cost of restoring the network.

Conclusion

Britain’s road network is essential to the functioning of the economy and society in general. It is shameful, therefore, that it has been allowed to fall into its present state of disrepair. The ABD believes that the bulk of funding released from cancellation of HS2 should be used to restore the local roads network in England and Wales to a high standard and continue maintaining it to that standard thereafter. The ABD commends this project to the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

Social media: You can keep abreast of ABD-related news, and what the ABD is up to on a daily basis, by following us on Twitter (@TheABD), or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/allianceofbritishdrivers)

Don’t forget to retweet our posts to help us gain more followers, and to share or ‘like’ our Facebook posts, encouraging your friends to support us too.

Website: The ABD’s website (www.abd.org.uk) is available to everyone, and there is a members’ site too (members.abd.org.uk).

Both of these contain mountains of information on a diverse range of topics, with links to other useful sites which may help your research.

Log on to find out more, or contact the ABD Webmaster, Chris Ward.

Digital magazine: If you want an electronic version of our On The Road magazine, it is available in pdf format. Latest copies can be downloaded from the ABD members' website.

Action pack: The ABD offers an informative ‘action pack’ which explains the process used by local authorities to set speed limits, and the rights you have to object to new or reduced limits.

The pack costs £5 to non-members, but is free to current members, who just need to send a large SAE to: ABD Action Pack, 3 Wheatcroft Way, Dereham, Norfolk, NR20 3SS.

Alternatively, send correspondence by email to [email protected]

Affiliated organisations: The ABD runs an affiliation scheme, allowing groups which support us to formally recognise the work we do. If you are a member of an organisation you think should be backing the ABD, please inform Terry Hudson and we’ll try to sign them up!

Publicity material: If you would like copies of any ABD literature, please contact our membership secretary.

Please don’t over-order, though, as printing costs are high.

Complain, and write to the media: Object about proposals for new traffic-calming measures and speed limit reductions. Few people do and that’s one of the reasons why they keep happening. Take time, too, to reply to anti-car articles in the media – you may be able to get a debate going, and become a spokesperson shouting up on behalf of drivers.

Fighting fund: The ABD has a fighting fund which welcomes donations at any time, or by standing order if you wish. For more details, contact our membership secretary.

Joint memberships: These are free, and help increase the size of the group. If your partner or spouse isn’t a joint member, sign them up if you can.

Local and regional contacts: If there’s a local campaign in your area, please make contact and join in. If there’s not and you think there needs to be, why not take on the role of campaign manager yourself? (Contact our National Campaign Director to find out how).

National committee: The ABD’s committee is always looking for more members to bring fresh ideas. If you’d like to help out, contact Brian Gregory, Brian Macdowall, Ian Taylor, or email [email protected]

Car stickers: Show your support for the ABD with one of our car stickers. Just send us an A5 size stamped addressed envelope, plus your name, address, phone number and email address to PO Box 1043, Stockton-on-Tees. TS19 1XG.

Contact your MP: We’d encourage all members to write regularly to their local MP, reminding them of their duty to stand up for drivers. It’s best to get their contact details from their local constituency website – contacting them through the Parliament website can be a complicated and long-winded process. Make sure you state that you are a constituent of theirs, to get priority in a reply.

The Rocky Road: This newly launched occasional newsletter is to keep members more up-to-date and better informed. It goes out by email to all members for whom we have a working email address. From now on, members will also be emailed a copy of press releases we issue nationally.

Coming soon: Following on from ‘The Rocky Road’, we are looking into allowing supporters of the ABD to sign-up for occasional newsletters and announcements from our website – with a choice of receiving by email, Facebook or Twitter. This is under development, so watch out for it.

Stay informed - showsupport and help ABDin spreading the word

abd.org.uk

Following on from ‘The Rocky Road’, we are looking into allowing supporters of the ABD to sign-up for occasional newsletters and announcements from our website

ABD contactsBOARD OF DIRECTORS Brain Gregory Chairman, Policy &Research [email protected]

Paul Biggs Environment (& Research)[email protected]@abd.org.uk Brian Macdowall Campaigns Director,Marketing & [email protected]

Ian TaylorFinance Director, PublicRelations Director (includingmedia & online)[email protected] 203351 or 07850 259499

COMPANY SECRETARYTerry Hudson TREASURERHugh [email protected] WEBMASTER/SOCIAL MEDIAChris [email protected] ON THE ROAD EDITORCarl [email protected] TECHNICAL ADVISERMalcolm [email protected] MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY/ENQUIRIESTerry Hudson – [email protected] POSTAL ADDRESSPO Box 1043Stockton-on-TeesTS19 1XG PRESS LINE0870 [email protected] NATIONAL CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR/GENERAL ENQUIRIESBrian [email protected] 369119 or 07930 113232 LOCAL CAMPAIGN MANAGERS London: Roger Lawson www.freedomfordrivers.org/contact 0208 295 0378 Roger also runs AMPOW (Against Police Misuse of Waivers), a separate campaign under the ABD “umbrella” Kent: Terry Hudson, [email protected], 01227 792698 Bristol/Bath: Bob Bull, [email protected] Birmingham: ABCAZ (Against Birmingham Clean Air Zone): Martin Moyes, [email protected] Teesside & North Yorkshire:Dave Bottrilll, [email protected], 07710 565740

The Alliance of British Drivers is the operating name of Pro-Motor Ltd, a non-profit making company limited by guarantee. Registered in England, No. 2945728. Registered Office: 4 King Square, Bridgewater, Somerset, TA6 3DG




































































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