Leasedrive Velo Blog

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

We’ve often heard people talk about ‘intelligent highways’ in relation to information technology but it seems we may soon be broadening our interpretation of the term.

Transport for London has announced the erection of 20 intelligent traffic cameras to detect congestion at specific traffic hotspots.

According to TfL, these cameras are equipped with special image recognition technology, presumably similar to vehicle licence recognition cameras, that are able to detect traffic build-up and alert its central traffic control centre.

The move will make it much easier for traffic controllers to react to sudden congestion build-ups caused by a broken down vehicle or traffic accident, and keep London on the move.

As we have seen with the M25, variable speed cameras can keep traffic flowing better than fixed speed limits. Again, traffic operators monitor the traffic lanes and adjust the variable speed overhead signs to match the weight and flow of traffic.

Nothing is worse than sitting in a vehicle going nowhere. Far better to remain on the move, albeit at a restricted pace.

Readers of this blog know only too well my views on black box technology as it relates to the potential application for road charging but the roll-out of traffic congestion cameras in major towns and cities seems eminently sensible.

To keep business working at optimum capacity is as much about keeping Britain on the move as it is about optimising production and service levels.

The sooner we experience ‘intelligent highways’ the better.

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Funny how times change, and with it the fates of two prancing horses – Porsche and Ferrari.

The prancing horses of the two famous marques are indeed quite similar.

The one on the Ferrari badge was originally the emblem of Italian WWI flying ace Francesco Baracca, whose parents persuaded Enzo Ferrari to use the logo of their late son on his Alfa Romeo race cars, later transferred to the road and race cars bearing his name. Meanwhile, the Porsche badge represents the coat of arms of the city of Stuttgart, where the company has its headquarters. The city was apparently built on the site of a stud farm, hence the horse: the antlers and red and black stripes are from the coat of arms of the state of Wurttemberg, where Stuttgart is located.

Not so long ago Porsche, one of the prancing horses, was the world’s biggest automotive manufacturer by value. The other prancing horse, Ferrari, was dominating successive F1 World Championships with Schumacher (five drivers’ titles) and Räikkönen (one driver’s title). Now Ferrari is fighting behind Brawn and Red Bull.

While the fortunes of a race team will inevitably go up and down, the fall from grace of Porsche has been nothing short of spectacular. Just under four years ago, the Stuttgart sports car marque started an audacious bid to take over Europe’s largest automotive manufacturer, the VW Group. This culminated in it acquiring a majority stake but at a cost, little known at the time.

To gain its 74.1% stake, via share ownership and share options, Porsche had built up an unserviceable debt of £7.8bn, while bringing various hedge funds to their knees in the process.

When things started to unravel, it looked as if Porsche would merge with VW. However, the Porsche family should never have discounted the management acumen of another member of the Porsche dynasty, the former designer of the infamous Porsche 917 race car, VW chairman Dr Ferdinand Piech.

A political king maker, Piech will now oversee the absorption of Porsche into the VW Group. What had always looked on the cards some 16 years ago will finally come about. Porsche, the once fiercely proud independent sports car manufacturer, forever associated with its multiple Le Mans 24-hour victories, will now become part of an integrated ten-brand car manufacturing group. As Ferrari is part of the Fiat Group. The star of the world’s most profitable vehicle manufacturer has burned out in spectacular style. Essentially, a reverse take-over will now take place.

Yet another example of one deal too far. Now doesn’t that sound familiar. As former Porsche head Wiedeking thought himself untouchable, so did Goodwin. Heads have rolled, and so with it brand reputations.

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

There have been a number of Parliamentary questions relating to road charging in recent weeks. Just when we thought the whole subject may have been finally dropped, it seems it’s very much back on the Government’s agenda.

First, transport minister Paul Clark was asked about the progress with the Galileo satellite navigation system, which could be used to charge drivers.

Apparently, full testing of a ground-based infrastructure will not take place until 2014.

Next we had Sadiq Khan, lead transport minister in the Commons, advising that £39m has been spent so far on investigating road pricing with £10m spent alone last year.

Again, apparently the first phase of testing the technology and processes required for a road pricing scheme based on time, distance and place travelled is underway.

Our neighbours TRL have been involved in this project. We observed vehicles including HGVs going around the test track for months in different formations.

Against this backdrop, we have seen the publication of the Taxes and Charges on Road Users report from the Transport Select Committee, which reflect many of the views expressed in my blogs over the past few years (see 5 Nov 2008 and 20 Aug 2008 if you’re interested).

Namely, the Committee believes taxation based on car usage through fuel duty to be the fairest approach.

Yes, you did read that right! That’s what I have been advocating for years!

The RAC Foundation acknowledges fuel duty accomplishes this to a degree although it sees this then being reduced once pay-as-you-go charges are introduced. Why? It seems absolutely absurd to introduce expensive technology that will go wrong when Government could simply ‘road price’ at the pumps through fuel duty and maybe introduce congestion charging at the entrance gateways to all major towns and cities.

Meanwhile, Nottingham City Council has been given the go-ahead to introduce workplace parking charges. From April 2012, the Council will charge employers £253 per space per annum for ten spaces or more, rising to £350 per space two years later.

Charging of one kind or another seems to be the order of the day.