New 30-point plan to support people’s freedom to use their cars and curb over-zealous enforcement measures
Today (2 October 2023), the Transport Secretary announced a new 30-point plan to support people’s freedom to use their cars and curb over-zealous enforcement measures.
Drivers will benefit from smoother, easier journeys thanks to the government’s new plan for drivers, including £70 million of taxpayers' money to keep traffic flowing and measures to speed up the rollout of electric vehicle charging.
The plan includes measures that could help councils increase spending on fixing potholes and road repairs by more than £100 million of taxpayers' money over 10 years, fining roadworks which overrun, new technology to simplify parking payment and updating 20mph zone guidance for England to prevent inappropriate blanket use.
The government has also today committed to exploring measures to speed up the installation of chargepoints for electric vehicles and extending grants to schools to install chargepoints.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said:
To help ease congestion, £70 million of taxpayers' money will be provided to councils this financial year in 3 different schemes to invest in improving traffic lights and signals, including AI tech to optimise traffic flow in city centres.
Journeys will also be smoother and quicker with the digitisation of traffic regulation orders, which will pave the way for autonomous vehicles and make life easier for today’s motorists by ensuring satnavs have the most up-to-date information on the location of parking spaces, road closures and speed limits.
These measures fulfil the government’s commitment to support families and grow the economy by making driving easier for the 50 million car licence holders in the UK. It will also help people make the switch to electric vehicles as the country continues its proportionate, balanced journey to net zero.
The measures come on top of extending the temporary fuel duty cut for another year in March 2023 to save drivers a total of around £5 billion over the past 2 years.
The full plan for drivers will make journeys smoother by:
We’re also stopping unfair enforcement by:
We’re making parking easier by:
We’re tackling inconsiderate driving by:
We’re supporting the transition to zero emission driving by: