The war on cars is getting a high-tech makeover in jolly, old England.
The county of Oxfordshire has passed a pilot project to introduce “traffic filters” in six locations in the city to reduce the number of private vehicles on the roads and promote the use of “green” alternatives like walking, biking, and public transit.
The “traffic filters” will include electronic gates and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras that will monitor the license plates of the vehicles passing through the gates. They will be in operation from 7am to 7pm seven days a week, except for two filters that will not operate on Sundays because traffic is already low in those areas on that particular day.
Any vehicle that is not authorized to pass through the gate will be charged a fine of £35 which will increase to £70 if it isn’t paid in two weeks.
Residents may apply for a permit that will give them 100 days a year to pass through as many times as they like without a fine.
The language regarding permits is truly Orwellian.
Everyone who lives in the city of Oxford permit area (OPA), where the filters are to be located, will be eligible for one free, 100-day permit a year, which will mean “unlimited travel through any of the six filters for the whole day” on up to 100 days per year. Each household will be eligible for a maximum of three permits.
Residents living outside the OPA but within Oxfordshire will be eligible for a permit to drive through the filters “on up to 25 days a year”.
Source: Reuters
“When they are operating, private cars will not be allowed through the traffic filters without a permit. All other vehicles including buses, coaches, taxis, vans, mopeds, motorbikes and HGVs will be allowed at all times. Residents in Oxford and some areas just outside the city will be able to apply for a permit allowing them to drive through the traffic filters for up to 100 days per year,” states the Oxfordshire government website. It adds, “Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras will monitor the traffic filters.”
A test run of the initiative will begin in 2024 and run for at least six months before the measures become permanent.
[CLICK HERE TO BROWSE]The county council insists that the traffic filters will “deliver an affordable, sustainable and inclusive transport system that enables the county to thrive whilst protecting the environment.”
The county’s website also promotes the measures because they will:
- make walking and cycling safer and more attractive.
- make bus journeys quicker and more reliable.
- enable new and improved bus routes.
- support investment in modern buses
- help tackle climate change, reduce local air pollution and improve the health and wellbeing of our communities.
Of course.
It’s clearly a war on private vehicles to “nudge” residents to behave the way the climate activists want them to.
Right-wing political commentator and independent journalist that the left loves to hate, Katie Hopkins, posted a video about the new measures and a brief clip of her explanation of the “traffic filters” is going viral.
Here is the clip:
Under the guise of climate change you will no longer be able to travel more then 15 minutes in the city you live…
“You’ll do nothing, and you’ll be happy” pic.twitter.com/pdBRviAZHv
— Pelham (@Resist_05) January 2, 2023
Some social media users are saying that this is a precursor to “climate lockdowns”… but, (surprise, surprise) the fact-checkers disagree.
— Sophie Corcoran (@sophielouisecc) December 4, 2022
Seven zones* but it doesn’t matter.
Peaceful non-compliance is the way.
— Lewis Brackpool (@Lewis_Brackpool) December 5, 2022
This framing clearly got the Lib Media’s panties in a bunch.
Reuters “fact-checked” the claim, but confirmed most of the details.
In a series of emails exchanged with Reuters, a spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council said the Vision News article had misrepresented its traffic filter initiative, which has been part of Oxford’s Transport Strategy since 2015 and aims to tackle traffic congestion and reduce pollution.
Six traffic filters are set to be tested for a minimum of six months around Oxford city from 2024. This means that between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. private cars will need a permit to get through.
Drivers using the filters who do not have a permit, or are not exempt, will face a penalty charge notice of £35, which will increase to £70 if it is not paid within two weeks.
“Everywhere in the city will still be accessible by car, although some private car drivers may need to use a different route during the operating hours of the traffic filters,” the spokesperson said.
“Everyone, wherever they live, will still be able to drive to and from any destination in Oxford, or anywhere else, anytime they like, as often as they like.”
The spokesperson added: “None of the traffic filters will ‘trap’ residents. As you can see from this zoomable map, traffic filters are points on a road, not a ‘zone’. So, residents living on roads near the filters will be able to enter and leave through other roads at any time, without using a permit. Everyone can enter and leave their street in at least one direction without going through a filter.”
Source: Reuters
No one would be “trapped” but they’d be fined if they go through the filter and don’t have a permit.
The fact-checking team over at Reuters concluded that the claims that this was a trial for climate lockdowns in 2024 are “misrepresentation.”
“Oxfordshire County Council is not planning a climate lockdown trial in 2024. It is testing traffic filter technology in the city to tackle congestion and pollution,” states the Reuters team.
Oh? Practically the entire Western world tossed their pandemic plans aside and followed China’s harsh lockdown model and continued to push for it even when it was obvious that it was all a load of crap. We now have immunity deficits, the spread of more severe respiratory viruses that are affecting children, isolation, depression, learning loss, and so much more as a result of lockdowns for COVID.
We also saw that a whole lot of politicians — on both the left and the right — continue to be keen supporters of lockdowns. They haven’t learned their lesson from the pandemic.
We are constantly told that The Science™ is “settled” and that we’re in a “climate crisis”… it isn’t a stretch to think that some of these lockdown advocates who also seem to be climate zealots are eager to push lockdowns to “save the planet.”
Note that there is zero pushback by Reuters on the government fining residents £35 for driving their own vehicles on publicly-funded roads while using surveillance to enforce the measures.
Interestingly, Hopkins addresses the “fact-checking” and the suppression of criticism of the scheme.
It’s all about making your life difficult unless you comply with their agenda.
That’s what happened with the COVID testing and vaccine mandates — your rights to work and travel were suspended until you complied with government public health regulations.
We saw the same thing with the way that the Trudeau government treated the truckers to end their protest. They froze the bank accounts of donors and used essentially war measures to clear a protest without ever meeting with the protesters.
We are seeing the same thing in the Netherlands with the war on farmers — the government there is making it difficult for the second-largest exporter of food in the world to produce food for people because it’s allegedly bad for the climate.
“You will do nothing and you will be happy” and if you don’t comply with the Current Thing™ agenda… the government will do its damnedest to make your life miserable.
It’s an anti-human agenda that needs to be resisted.
Psalms of War: Prayers That Literally Kick Ass is a collection, from the book of Psalms, regarding how David rolled in prayer. I bet you haven’t heard these read, prayed, or sung in church against our formidable enemies — and therein lies the Church’s problem. We’re not using the spiritual weapons God gave us to waylay the powers of darkness. It might be time to dust them off and offer ‘em up if you’re truly concerned about the state of Christ’s Church and of our nation.
Also included in this book, Psalms of War, are reproductions of the author’s original art from his Biblical Badass Series of oil paintings.
This is a great gift for the prayer warriors. Real. Raw. Relevant.
