The motorways of today are quite literally full of traffic, from private cars and motorbikes to vans and transporters full of Cars for sale and there is no sign of the level of traffic abating. Indeed it seems that our motorways get busier year on year as more families have multiple cars, especially on some of the more popular motorways.
And yet very few of our motorways are toll motorways and the vast majority of them are still free of charge to travellers which begs the question, why do we not consider charging for them, or at least some of them, as many of our European neighbours do.
It seems like common sense, as it would have the dual effect of encouraging people to share cars to save money or to take the bus as well as raising more money to ensure ongoing maintenance and improvement work on the infrastructure.
It would also mean that those willing to pay for the motorway service would face less traffic and get from A to B far more quickly, which is essential for longer journeys.
A potential downside which would have to be researched is that it may push more traffic onto the smaller roads causing congestion at a local level. This system works well in many countries, however, and is something we should consider here.
