All Cars, All the Time

Eight Years and then You're Out: Remote Sensors to Save the Day?

First there was the congestion charge and now all of Greater London may see even more drastic measures. With Greater London being designated a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) there a rules afoot to impose up to a £200 ($367) a day charges to vehicles older than eight years. At this point rules would only apply to larger commercial vehicles like buses, but that could still have a huge impact.

My uncle has delivery trucks in London. On an almost weekly basis his vehicles are vandalized, stolen or otherwise abused such that he is very hesitant to buy new trucks for fear that they'll be stolen then next day. He's already on a razor thin profit margin and if something like this would ever apply to delivery trucks, it could do him in.

There may be some who would say, "Tough break, we have to spare the air." I'm willing to give some ground to that, but categorizing all eight year or older commercial vehicles as massive polluters doesn't take into account that some are excellently maintained. Meanwhile there are some four year old vehicles spewing fumes and filth.

Isn't there a better idea? I know that there are remote pollution sensors that can detect cars that grossly exceed allowable limits. You can read about one such California Air Resources Board test here. London is already using surveillance to enforce their congestion charge. Certainly this remote sensors could be utilized in a similar manner to weed out the bad apples and leave the rest of the vehicular fleet unmolested.

Sound a little too much like Enemy of State for your tastes? Well London does have to do something its air quality and this mix of technology and common sense could yield a much more palatable approach to the draconian eight years and you are gone policy.

What's our concern with all this? What happens in London, doesn't stay in London (unlike Las Vegas). Mayor Ken Livingston has said that he wants to make London the most environmentally-friendly city in the world and other cities around the world are paying attention. For example, San Francisco is looking into a congestion charge of its very own and I could certainly see San Francisco looking into it's own LEZ in the future as well (yikes, that pun just sort of slipped in there--but hopefully you get what I mean).

In any case, things are moving rapidly in London. Public comment on the proposed revisions has now closed. Transport for London is now considering the consultation responses and will report to the Mayor in summer 2006. The Mayor may then make a decision on whether to publish the revised Transport and Air Quality strategies. The Mayor may also decide whether to go ahead with the next stage of detailed development of a LEZ.