Queuing up for toll-free travel

IN reviewing the themes in this column over the past year, it’s come as a bit of a jolt to realise that a modern-thinking chap like me is actually something of a technophobe.

Scratch the surface and Lawrence the Luddite emerges faster than you can say “exploding phone” or “online scammer”.

That’s probably the reason I recently spotted a report by an all-party group of MPS who reckon that “smart” motorways utilising All Lane Running (ALR) technology should be put on hold.

I’d never heard of this traffic management system, in which the hard-shoulder becomes an electronically-monitored third or fourth lane. I have to say though, that it sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Published collision statistics would seem to bear this out.

We’re told that our burgeoning demands as service users spur all these technological advancements, but we always seem to be playing catch-up when dealing with the social impact.

Most of us know about the past horrors of animal experimentation to the degree that we no longer revere people in white coats without question.

Yet we’ve also learned that popular cynicism about science can overspill into situations where poor vaccination take-up has a hugely negative effect on public health.

The latest big high-tech noise is all about automation.

It seems it’s the answer to every organisational issue, although it’s noticeable how a good number of those making the claim have a stake in outsourcing firms.

Call me unconvinced, but if there actually is a public sector computer system out there that hasn’t cost five times more than projected, or delivered anything like the promised productivity, then kept a big secret.

As for the private sector, RBS customers who watched helplessly as their savings were filched by fraudsters will tell you what they think of smart banking systems. I can’t say DESPITE being overshadowed by other events, including an ill-judged renaming of the second bridge, the move to scrap toll booths on the Severn crossings has proved something of a political coup.

While it has never quite represented an injustice along Rebecca Riot proportions, the imposition of an “entry tax” into Wales has undoubtedly been a source of national irritation.

Now that the gates are gone, the good times are already beginning to roll with a property price rise in Monmouthshire which reflects its what issues will beset proposals by HM Revenue & Customs to digitise its VAT programme for small businesses. What I do new status as a “Bristol commuter belt” area.

The expected downside, though, for those heading further west, is that traffic will now hit the Newport bottleneck much more quickly.

The official story is that an initial 50mph limit will be raised to 70mph limit later in the year.

Other sources tell me users can expect variable speed limits from the Severn Crossing up to junction 29, at which Cardiff-bound traffic peels off on to the A48.

Have a safe journey. know is that the House of Lords’ Economic Affairs committee has called for things to slow down, given that 40% of firms have never even heard of the plans, let alone had time to prepare.

Sticking some activity on to a computer always seems to be the answer.

But as our relationship with technology increasingly shifts towards something approaching outright dependency, I’m left wondering more and more about who actually benefits. ■ This my last column of 2018, so can I close by wishing you and yours a merry Christmas and a peaceful new year.

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