For the RACE, payment per use could cause many drivers to choose to circulate on secondary roads, where 78% of fatal accidents occur
Alert among drivers for the Government’s project to start charging for the use of the highways. The Royal Automobile Club of Spain (RACE), upon confirmation by various government spokesmen to charge for the use of the highways, has assured that the measure “once again burdens drivers’ backs and pockets” and, Above all, it is a problem for road safety, because it forces drivers to look for “much more dangerous” alternative routes.
Three out of four drivers are opposed to paying under any circumstances, according to data from a RACE survey in December, and eight out of ten shared the same concern: traffic will be diverted to secondary roads, some with deficits in maintenance and upkeep, and drivers will be more exposed to the possibility of suffering an accident with worse consequences.
For the RACE, payment per use could cause many drivers to choose to circulate on secondary roads, where 78% of fatal accidents occur, thereby discouraging the use of high-capacity roads. “You want to make yourself pay for something that you already pay for. Between direct and indirect taxes and fees, drivers contribute 30,000 million euros to the State coffers “, recalls the RACE.
In the case of establishing payment for highways, this offense “would become much worse”, added to the prices of electricity, fuel, gasoline and taxes, “represents an unsustainable attack on the automotive sector and the free mobility of persons”.
“When a carrier sees increased costs for carrying their cargo, it will end up having an impact on the final price of the product,” so the measure is not only against the drivers’ pocket, but that of the whole of society, “warns the Club de Motorists.
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