In 1997, the message...

In 1997, the message from the newly elected Government, which had Gordon Brown as its high-profile and extremely powerful Chancellor, was: “Things can only get better.” Fast forward 10 years, and the non-driving Mr Brown is, without the permission of a single voter, doing Prime Minister impersonations and even assuming the lofty job title, too. He’s replaced the above slogan with a new one that goes: “I have heard the need for change. Now let the work of change begin.”

BritainрЂ™s new Transport Secretary should start by handing over control of the roads to the people who understand them best рЂ“ motorists

OK, so let’s start with ministerial journeywoman Ruth Kelly, who has been brought in to bring about those “changes” desperately needed on our roads. The incoming Transport Secretary has a bitch of a job on her hands, as she’s inheriting a department that has been stagnant, impotent and lazy over the last decade, a period in which G. Brown Esq. charged us around ВЈ400billion in motoring taxes. By inheriting Transport, Ms Kelly is taking on one of the most profitable Government departments. If she remains in charge of it until the next general election in 2008/9, she and Brown will have raked in taxes totalling ВЈ500billion.

Therefore, the first thing she must understand is that the vast majority of her customers – car drivers – continue to pay through the nose for the upkeep, repair, improvement and management of THEIR roads. Yes Ruth, they belong to us, not you, not your Transport Department, not central or local government. That being the case, why doesn’t Ms Kelly start her new job in style by announcing plans to hand the ownership and management of the roads back to the people who own them, understand them and know how to make them run more efficiently and safely?

And why not even more drastic measures to bring about the big changes that her boss, Gordon Brown, says he is calling for? Off the top of my head I can think of several, including dedicated lanes for cyclists, buses/coaches, trucks and other heavy vehicles and, finally, cars/light vans/motorcycles/taxis. Other than in an emergency, nobody can stray into anybody else’s lane – which means the current unfair practice of buses overtaking other buses by driving out of their purpose-built bus lanes will be totally outlawed.

Want to cut down on morning and evening congestion, Ruth? Then encourage/bribe schools, shops and offices to get away from the brainless tradition of everyone operating on 8/9am and 4/5pm schedules five days a week. Mix it up a bit. Why, for instance, can’t more office workers have the flexibility to start/finish early or start/finish late? Better still, let them work from home if they can. Kids could study, say, 7.30am-2.30pm in June, July and September, leaving them free to enjoy some balmy afternoons.

And two of the biggest, most disgraceful scams in transport – the likely introduction of England-wide road tolls plus the ongoing profiteering by entrepreneurial rip-off merchants in the subsidised public transport industry – need urgent investigation.

I just hope and pray that for the first time in more than a decade we’ve got a Transport Department and Secretary prepared to listen, learn and do something positive for a change. For what it’s worth, I’m happy to pass on the Transport Manifesto I’ve researched and written at my own expense over a number of years. Ruth, you can have a copy free of charge and steal as many of my ideas as you like. Discuss here