Traffic 'will increase 25% in seven years'

Motorists face a 25 per cent increase in traffic over the next seven years if the Government continues to "do nothing", says research published today.

Falling petrol prices and more fuel-efficient vehicles will mean greater congestion with some roads coming to a virtual standstill, a report published by the Independent Transport Commission says.

The only way to avoid the "driver's despair scenario'' would be by introducing a nationwide policy of congestion charging, it says. Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport, has indicated he is in favour of such a scheme. But he estimated it would take 25 years to implement.Under the petrol pricing and taxation regime, motorists pay about 8.5p a mile, but if a variable congestion charge were introduced, that would be cut to 4p a mile in rural areas and 17p in London, Manchester and the West Midlands.

The study, Transport Pricing and Investment in England, written by Stephen Glaister and Dan Graham, says: "Fuel duty is a blunt instrument which fails to distinguish those circumstances in which there is a case for reducing traffic from those in which people and industry could enjoy greater mobility at lower cost.''