Satellite tracking plan on the road to ruin

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PLANS to introduce motorway road charging using satellite tracking could be thrown into disarray after a trial by Britain's biggest insurer Norwich Union experienced serious teething problems.

It has emerged that the technology may not be as reliable as the government hoped, after a "significant" number of black boxes fitted in the backs of cars broke and had to be replaced.

Norwich Union's Pay-As-You-Go trial seeks to establish whether road usage correlates with accident experience, and therefore whether some drivers should be charged substantially less for their insurance depending on when, where, and how they drive.

The company launched its trial about a year ago, involving 5,000 motorists. The black box is smaller than a DVD case and is installed either in the boot or passenger area of a car. It uses global positioning satellite technology to record journeys and information that is transmitted securely to Norwich Union via a mobile phone network. The system covers all parts of the UK.

However, unbeknown to the drivers, these black boxes have broken down in a "significant" number of cases, requiring an engineer to be called to carry out repairs, or in most cases replace the device. The motorist has no way of knowing there is a problem and the first indication they receive that something is wrong is when they pick up a call from the company. For heavy road users, this has typically happened after six months. Average drivers are only now experiencing difficulties.

Martin Otter, operations manager for the trial, said the problem had arisen because chips had failed.

He said: "Obviously we are disappointed with this setback. It is an expensive business sending out engineers and we are very sorry to inconvenience our customers. This is not something we would wish to do lightly. However, we act as soon as we pick up that the signal has failed. The driver has no idea anything is wrong."

In the past 10 years the number of cars on Britain's roads has surged by more than a quarter to 25m. Government forecasts suggest that the time drivers spend in traffic jams could rise by 20% by 2010.

Last year, transport secretary Alistair Darling announced that Britain intended to be the world's first large country to introduce a national system of road pricing. The system, which could be introduced in 2014 at the earliest, promises to transform the way that Britain's drivers are charged for taking to the roads by taxing drivers when, where and how far they drive. It is estimated the scheme could raise £9bn annually.

Source: Scotsman

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