The bright sparks in Amsterdam and a number of surrounding local areas have come up with yet another scheme to try to reduce rush hour traffic jams.

This time they plan to bribe, sorry reward, drivers for avoiding highways at the busiest times of the day. And promises of up to €100 a month may indeed lead some people to think twice before jumping in the car.
Downside of all this is that motorists will have to have a tracking device fitted in their cars so that their driving habits can be monitored. Could these possibly be the same tracking devices that the government intends to use when it finally gets round to introducing pay-per-drive schemes in a few years time?
Charging motorists for every kilometer they travel is a very unpopular idea, but hey, if you can get the boxes in enough cars already, all sorts of experiments are possible.
The car scheme is somewhat similar to Amsterdam’s equally generous offer of free public transport for pensioners, if they agree to use the new transport chip card – not an anonymous one, mind you, but a card which allows officials to track their every move by tram, bus and metro.
Another nice little bribe to get the unwilling population to adopt a piece of unwanted but highly useful technology by the back door.