The weight issue - I wonder who cause the 'sags' in the slow lanes on motorways?

The weight issue - I wonder who cause the 'sags' in the slow lanes on motorways?

Implied by posts #48 and #49 I think.

ISTR the basic function is proportional to the 4th power of the axle weight. So if we assign a 1t axle a "damage rating" of 1, a 2t axle has a rating of 16, a 3t one 81, a 10t one 10_000 :eek: !

That's the bugger, I just kept it simple.

So a 6 axle 44 tonner isn't going to be pretty but then a 4 axle 2 tonner isn't either.

You can see why I say they should base the road tax/vignette at least partly on weight.

A 2 tonne car/4wd/mpv will do a lot more damage to the roads than a 1 tonne car.

For info damage to roads is generally calculated using the term MSA or Million Standard Axles and the calculations ignore cars and light goods vehicles, basically because, as noted above, the damage is done by the heavies.

If you want chapter and verse I could ask one of my pavement engineer colleagues to comment...

And yes the ruts are caused by the heavies in the slow lane. The issue is generally worse in areas where there is standing traffic as the bituminous pavements can "creep" unlike concrete.

Concrete is a far better pavement material in many ways - rigid, stable, strong, doesn't runt, and can be laid with as much "grip" as required but is noisy. Hence concrete as a surface material is currently banned, although it can be used with a thin bituminous wearing course...

OK I'll shut up now as I think I may be starting to get boring...

i really dont understand the whole motive behind increasing taxes. they say they do it to stop people buying big polluting cars, but adding an extra £200 or wotever aint gonna stop the rich from buying gas guzzling, polluting cars?

what makes me angrier is that the gvnmnt increased the cost of diesel because more people are purchasing diesels bewcause they are more economical. did you know that 63% of the cost of a litre of fuel goes to the government. what are they spending our money on? its not the nhs, schooling or public transport because they are all **** still. I suppose it could be going on the larger fleet of armoured vehicles that are being purchased for war in iraq. money well spent?

.... did you know that 63% of the cost of a litre of fuel goes to the government. what are they spending our money on? ...

Their own personal expenses and pay rises which of course they get to vote on. Hence the John Lewis list. I smell sleaze on a huge level when MP's get to review what is an acceptable expense.

The reviews should be done by a totally independent body and should have an element of public satisfaction related pay. Expenses should be in line with what every private company employee has to show to get money back without the tax man hounding them.

The MP's expenses would be treated as fraud in most companies and certainly come under review from the corporate governance lot.

I still favour walking in to the (mas)debating chamber with an AK and letting rip. C*nts.

i really dont understand the whole motive behind increasing taxes. they say they do it to stop people buying big polluting cars, but adding an extra £200 or wotever aint gonna stop the rich from buying gas guzzling, polluting cars?

Ah , but it will.

£400 a year road tax doesn't seem like much of an issue when you buy a large expensive car brand new , but it does become very much more of an issue when the car is second hand and a few years old.

Look at the second hand values of big 4x4s and other luxury cars and they have plummeted because people buying them when they are now £10-15k don't want a £400 a year bill just to own it , even before the high price of fuel comes into play.

Now look at how much of a difference that makes to the cost of owning a merc or landrover for 3 years and all of a sudden it's a lot more pricey , and *that* is why big car sales will drop.

The only selecting characteristic of being an MP is the ability to get elected - eg to make the majority of people believe that you will do good things if elected to office, or that your opponent will do worse things, or that the world will end if they don't vote for you. Any beliefs you hold are irrelevant. There is no requirement to actually do anything once in office.

Most MPs are almost invisible once elected. You may as well elect a tortoise with "I vote with the party whip" painted on its shell.

So by definition, Parliament is filled with those people most capable, out of the whole population, to make you believe anything, no matter what the truth is. The most capable, in this narrow sphere, then get their fellows to vote for them as leader.

So similarly, by definition, the prime minister is always the best liar in the country.

In fact the only people who should never be given a chance of running the country are exactly the only people who ever get that chance.

And this is democracy?

I would have thought that rather than tax the a** of cars already under a co2 scheme, they should extend it to pre-2001 vehicles.

I hear 2nd hand sales of pre-01 pocket rockets are soaring!

i know when it comes to hgvs the tax goes up, we have hgv's on a 20t limit as its cheaper to tax etc than 44t. if we have anywork for 44t we sub contract it out.

BBC NEWS | Politics | MPs reveal mental health problems

Kind of On Topic and kind of Off topic, but it's good to see the BBC can write a good headline.

Some Nigel goes whinging on a website without looking at the full facts...

For what it's worth, I'm not overly concerned with the change in the petrol VRS rates. Glad I don't have a Kia Sorento anymore though.

what makes me angrier is that the gvnmnt increased the cost of diesel because more people are purchasing diesels bewcause they are more economical.

The government hasn't increased the cost of diesel.

The one thing I would say is if you don't like what your mp is doing, go and see him/her or write to him/her, they always answer and if you don't like what they say then put yourself up for election and see if you can better......I know I couldn't do any better....can you?....how about an MP from the Briskoda party

.

I am confused by this idea that the new rates are not ecologically sound. They are based on CO2 emissions generated on a fairly conservative test based on real-world driving.

Ok then - perhaps the answer (till Gobby and Darling Alistair( looks for limp wrist smiley:rofl:) get wise to it )- buy something like a Seat Ibeza ECOMOTIVE -(as advertised on DVLA web site as prize,with NIL POINT VED) - either chip it to 100 bhp or slot in something else from the VAG range.Hey presto -a NIL POINTS VED car with a lot of poke -suspect this is how lots of folk will go .(OH SOD IT -Gobbys Police have seen this and are drafting new MOT laws :eek: )

I think I can live with my £5 increase. Feel sorry for you octavia owners

Why?

In 2010 your Fabia VRS will be £125 per year, my Octavia will be £270 - a difference of £145.

Works out at £2.79 per week which won't keep me awake at night wishing I owned a Fabia rather than an Octavia VRS

Just a thought.

Brown lied to parliament when he said many would benefit. MPs then voted based on his speil.

So surely we should all complain to the parliamentary offices to get this reviewed and voted on correctly? Oh and our local (likely tory) MP's

emails addys:

House of Commons Commission

the overall supervisory body of the House of Commons Administration

tel: +44 (0)20 7219 3299

email: [email protected]

Scrutiny Unit

The Scrutiny Unit forms part of the Committee Office in the House of Commons. It exists to strengthen the scrutiny function of the House. It provides specialist expertise to select committees, especially (but not exclusively) on financial matters and draft Bills.

tel: +44 (0)20 7219 0039

email: [email protected]

The government hasn't increased the cost of diesel.

Yes they have, albeit some years ago, when the rate of VED on diesel was increased to above that on petrol.

^^^ Must have been '98 or '99 -- shortly after I bought my Golf. Before then, Diesel was cheaper than petrol.

That sounds about right. Still means Greedy Gordon was responsible.

That sounds about right. Still means Greedy Gordon was responsible.

FFS , any changes of duty since the Conservatives Fuel Duty escalator was ditched have been at or below inflation.

They haven't been making huge changes.

but they did say in the news yesterday that the 2p hike in october has now been abolished/.

^^^ Postponed. And they did not say until when.

I was pretty peeved when the price of diesel went over the price of petrol, considering that I had just bought my first diesel vehicle.

But another 2p on the price of fuel at its current level would be trivial. If they want to do something to help the motorist, then they have to be a bit more aggressive than that. But of course they don't want to help the motorist. If they are to hit their CO2 targets they have got to turn the ever-increasing number of cars on the roads to an ever-decreasing number. I just wish they'd offer the carrot a bit more often than the stick. Investment in public transport would be a good start.

Or they could try doing something that might actually have a measurable effect on CO2 rather than just grabbing revenue, such as, oh I dunno, decent grants for additional home insulation!

So how much will it cost me for my octavia 2 1.9 tdi PD when the changes come in, and how much a year is it at the moment, sorry for sounding a bit silly but the gararge put 6 months on it when I bought it last week.

My kia carens 2ltr diesel cost £175