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The article reports that London, England has improved traffic congestion by imposing a fee on drivers who travel within the most heavily congested areas. The system uses cameras and prepaid fees, and has resulted in 20% less congestion in central London and 15% lower emissions. Profits from the system were used to fund public transit.

Nine months after London started to charge motorists for driving in the city Centers, leaders of the world's cities are trying to repeat London's trick of cutting traffic jams. Since February 17 motorists have had to pay £5 to drive in central London on weekdays or risk a fine of £80 if they fail to pay. There are now 50,000 fewer cars entering central London every day, a drop in traffic of 16 per cent. A host of other cities is also likely to follow suit, including Lisbon, Paris, Milan and New York, not to mention a number of cities in Japan and South America. A second option, Phil Blythe a specialist in electronic says, is to use Global Positioning System (GPS) to track vehicles, a system already used in Switzerland to charge heavy lorries for the distance they travel. But tall buildings can block GPS signals in city centers. INSET: SMARTER WEAPONS TO TAX AWAY TRAFFIC.

The article analyzes whether initiative such as traffic congestion fees could be effectively implemented in North America. Congestion fees are generally set to discourage use rather than raise revenue and involve fixing a price to a road based on the demand for using that road. Singapore introduced this system almost 30 years ago, however, it is said that what works in one jurisdiction may not succeed in another. A straight-forward congestion fee was introduced in London, England, in 2003 that only applied to weekday drivers. Congestion fees are said to have a limited foothold in North America, despite their proliferation in Europe and Asia.

The article looks at discussion surrounding the implementation of a national road-pricing scheme in England. Transportation and politics do not mix. Road and rail policy operates on time-spans of a decade or more, offering little electoral advantage to ministers, who are never more than five years away from losing their jobs. So it was nice to see Alistair Darling, the transport secretary, taking the long view last week by restarting the debate on using pricing to reduce congestion on Britain's worsening roads. Everyone agrees that big changes are needed. The problem is not a lack of capacity (most roads are empty most of the time) but the lack of an efficient system for allocating it. A system that charged individual drivers for the costs of increased traffic density, vehicle emissions and damage to the roads would encourage more efficient use of a scarce resource and be fairer to boot.

Presents information on articles featured in the January 1955 issue of "Geographical" magazine. Progress in the east of Pakistan since the 1947 partition from India; Plan to alleviate the traffic congestion in Cambridge, England.

The article reports on the plan to spend £150 million to push through with the dynamic monitoring system to ease the traffic congestion at the busiest stretches of the sections of M6, M42, and M40 motorway around Birmingham in England after a successful trial on sections of the M42 motorway. It is emphasized that the system can monitor the speed and amount of traffic. The trial on the section of the M42 has reduced the journey times and fuel consumption, as well as vehicle emissions.

Discusses reader responses to the topic of traffic congestion in England. Opinions on the congestion charge in central London which was used to cut traffic; Dislike of the idea of tolling all motorways; Thoughts on taxing by road and fuel use.