Tracking where you drive is more illiberal than an ID card

Over on Liberal Democrat Voice, there is a discussion on the new Lib Dem policy on transport.  Whilst I welcome most of the proposals, the debate within the party is rightly centering on the proposals for road pricing, something which Stephen Tall endorses:

Personally, I’ve never seen the problem (with reasonable safeguards in place). It is one thing to have to carry an ID card simply to prove to the state you exist - that’s bad; but quite another to enjoy the privilege of using a less-congested road system.

I disagree completely.

First, I must lay my cards on the table.  I have never had a principled objection to having an ID card.  I object to the cost of it, both to myself and to the government, as the money could be better spent on more police and technology that would cut down the paperwork.  I also object to the Government claiming it as a wonderful new way of catching terrorists, when it will do nothing of the sort.  But I don’t object to the principle of having one as long as production of it cannot be demanded by a police officer.

But what I do object to is a device in a car I am driving that allows the Government to track everywhere that I go.  That to me is far more intrusive than a bit of plastic in my pocket.  I know all the arguments about how there is technology that allows you to charge correctly whilst also keeping your movements anonymous, but I covered why I don’t accept those explanations on a previous post over a year ago.

To me the simple market-based solution to pricing road use is to scrap road tax and road pricing, but instead use tax on fuel.  I know petrol duty has generated a lot of anger over the years, but if the other charges are scrapped and this is seen to be about putting money in to transport and not just more money in to the coffers of the Treasury then surely people will move behind it.  We can also help people in rural areas where car usage is more a neccessity by reducing the duty charged by petrol stations in certain geographical areas.

My solution will undoubtedly have its flaws, but its a lot fairer, less intrusive and substantially more liberal than road pricing.