Not a big fan of petitions. Tend to be motivated and surrounded by ignorance and hidden agendas.
From the DfT website:-
"These benefits would be achieved by more than half of traffic paying less than it would otherwise be paying in fuel taxes, and only a small proportion of traffic paying the highest charge levels. This scheme would nevertheless raise considerable revenue - some £9 billion (gross) a year - although the modelling shows that little congestion benefit would be lost if prices were set at levels which did not raise more revenue than would otherwise be raised by fuel taxes."
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_roads/documents/divisionhomepage/029798.hcsp
Although I haven't signed the petition I do have two concerns with the proposed methods of road pricing.
1) My mobile phone network already tracks my movements through its base stations and keeps this data for two years. Road pricing (which will naturally be conducted on behalf of the state) will give the state even more information on my movements. Unexciting as they are I still feel a certain reduction in my freedom to roam my own country.
2) The DfT has made it clear that there doesn't need to be a net tax gain for
most of the benefits of road pricing to be achieved.
But, (Party-Politics aside as we have had 'alternative' forms of taxes imposed on us for nearly 30 years) will any Government be able to resist the opportunity?