Charging motorists for each mile they travel is 'inevitable' if future traffic gridlock is to be avoided, the RAC Foundation says today.

A 'pay-as-you-go' system could be the answer to congestion, according to a report from the foundation.

Professor Stephen Glaister, the foundation's director who drew up the report, said a fundamental shift was needed in the way England's roads were managed and paid for.

The launch of the report coincided with an Ipsos MORI study for the RAC Foundation, which showed that 58 per cent of drivers agreed that a per-mile, pay-as-you-go system on all roads would make them think about how much they drive.

Prof Glaister's report identified a series of problems facing road users and governments in the future. These included a lack of vision for the road network, a 33 per cent increase in traffic by 2025 and reduced spending on roads because of financial and political constraints.

The End of an Era - The Scrappage Scheme Ends

At the of March 2010 the UK Government announced that the UK Scrappage Scheme ends. Scrappage accounted for a fifth of cars sold after the scheme was introduced a year ago to help the recession-hit motor industry cope with falling sales.

The government estimates that 4,000 jobs with manufacturers and suppliers were supported by the scheme. 

The Chancellor announced in the Budget on 22nd April 2009, a voluntary discount scheme under which motor dealers would give motorists £2,000 or more towards a new vehicle if they traded in a car or van over 10 years old for scrap.

The scheme was launched on 18 May 2009 and lasted until the end of March 2010. It was announced on 28th September that funding was to be increased and would be available to scrap up to 400,000 vehicles, with £400m provided by Government and matched by support from vehicle manufacturers.

With this being the year of an election and in the face of a recent increases in petrol prices, the chancellor Alistair Darling  today said he will stagger the 3p fuel duty increase that was due to hit motorists from the start of next month. The chancellor told the House of Commons that fuel duty will now rise by just 1p a litre on 1 April. A further penny will be added to the cost of buying a litre of fuel on 1 October, and 0.76p on 1 January 2011.

The April increase alone adds about £38 a year to the typical cost of refilling. Motoring groups such as the AA have campaigned for the original 3p increase to be shelved in the face of a faltering recovery, and following a big jump in wholesale fuel costs. Darling also said he was committed to the fuel duty escalator that will see pump prices rise by inflation plus 1p a litre, each year, between 2011 and 2014.

Its been a tough year for many people in the UK so higher fuel prices are just the icing on the cake for many struggling with the economic downturn. We are being warned to expect a 15p a litre increase in fuel prices that will push up pump prices to record highs. 

It will see the cost of a litre of unleaded soar from 108p to over 123p. This is helped by the increase in VAT back to 17.5%, duty duty increases and the withdrawal of biofuel incentives.

The chairman of the  Petrol Retailers' Association - Brian Madderson  said: 'The Government is desperate for  cash.  And motorists are an easy tax target. It will mean motorists paying record levels  for their fuel.

December 2009 arrived with a shiver today as temperatures across Britain plummeted to -9 following clear skies overnight with snow due to fall on exposed higher ground in Scotland later today. Another front coming in from the Atlantic is expected to dump yet more rain on the UK.

Its a double blow for motorists who leave their cars running on frosty mornings to warm up the engine and clear the windscreen could face being fined up to £40 under anti-pollution rules quietly brought in by the government in 2002. The ruling is particularly aimed at drivers of buses and taxis who sometimes leave engines running for half-an-hour or more while waiting for passengers, pumping out pollution unnecessarily.

For more information on winter driving and our experiences with Hypermiling over the winter months check out our Hypermiling Forum. Also check out our Winter Hypermiling Tips on our Techniques pages