But there’s an obvious problem with infrastructure upgrades: they cost a lot of money. And with public budgets being stretched already, it is unlikely that such massive expenditure could be undertaken by the public sector alone.

The introduction of road pricing is one answer, and the economic advantages have been known for some time. Concerns about traffic levels and congestion are not new. In the early 1960s, the government commissioned a report on this issue, which was written by Reuben Smeed, an employee of the government’s Road Research Laboratory. His findings were published in 1964 and concluded that road pricing might be a restraint from over-using the roads and could thus be an effective way to reduce congestion. The basic argument of the Smeed Report is still valid: in order to make the best possible use of resources such as the road network, it is necessary to attach a price tag to them.

Efficient use of scarce resources
In this way, the price mechanism can signal which roads are congested and should be used less, and it could also show where there is still spare capacity. Road pricing could also redirect traffic to other routes and other times. In essence, road pricing is a means of making the most efficient use of a scarce resource: our roads.

What road pricing does is, in effect, not dissimilar to the use of pricing in other areas. Whether it is food or furniture, resources are rarely unlimited, and experience shows that market prices are a good way to deal with consumer demands. In other words, the idea behind road pricing is hardly revolutionary. Yet, four decades since Smeed wrote his report, road pricing has not been introduced in Britain. So what has stopped governments from applying these ideas? Public resistance and a perception that road pricing would be unfair if it were simply to be introduced on top of existing motoring taxes are likely answers. In one sense, this public perception is understandable.