It seems that successive governments continue relentlessly to apply the "stick" approach in attempting to reduce car usage.

If the road toll proposals are adopted in Scotland, they will surely spread throughout the rest of the UK. Is it not time the government tried the "carrot" approach instead?

Commuting to and from work makes the greatest single contribution to road congestion. Why therefore, doesn't the transport minister get together with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and arrange to allow the cost of travelling to and from work by public transport allowable against income tax?

I am sure this would attract much public support and perhaps improve the government's popularity as it would be seen to be tackling this problem in a positive manner.

Certainly, transport links would need to be improved to accommodate those who are currently not served well, but this should not be an insurmountable obstacle. David Hughes, England

Honestly, I cannot believe that the UK is going to yet again tax its people to death. Ever hear the saying "you can't get blood from a turnip?"

Placing tolls on your roads will NOT be the answer to releaving the clogigng of certain roads, only to bring more traffic jams to the roads less travelled without tolls.

I live in the US, and here in California we do not have tolls - only on bridges - which have proven to cause even more backups when trying to cross them.

Ask anyone who lives in the San Francisco bay area where a two hour wait to get across the bridges is the norm!

And I have travelled the roads of New York to Maine with their tolls - what a mess. Is this what the new parliament in Scotland has in store for its people?

The Fat Cats are getting fatter and the little guy is getting concentration camp thin. Will the "people" be given a chance to vote on this?

Or, if they do, will the politicians simply bypass what the "people" want and go ahead with their own plans anyway?

The UK pays the highest monies possible for petrol as it is - which is unthinkable - not to mention the price of cars and insurance!

Which brings me to the question of just why do they pay such a high price in the first place? Course that is another matter entirely ...

What idiot thought up this toll anyway - and then - having the poor guy have to pay for the upkeep of the thing to be installed in his car?! Surely, this is a joke, right? Katherine, California

When are this Labour government going to stop crucifying the "working man"?

I, amongst many others have to travel a considerable distance, often to areas not supported by public transport.

I continually find my wage being eroded by travelling expenses, particularly petrol. Road tolls are totally unacceptable.

How many more taxes have they lined up after this one?

Margaret Thatcher must be very proud of Tory Blair. Allan MacLean, UK

Through extreme petrol taxation we are already one of the most expensive places to run a vehicle in the world.

We already pay for the roads through road tax, so why should pay to use something we have already paid for?

If anything it has already proven that increasing the cost to a higher level does not help the congestion, rather than increase pricing other ways should be considered to battle congestion.

All rising costs on running a vehicle do is push the living costs in the UK higher still. Tony Bradley, UK

I feel that instead of easing congestion road tolls will only move the congestion onto minor roads which cannot cope with a significantly increased volume of traffic.

Why, when we pay the highest fuel tax in Europe and road tax, should we be expected to pay even more?

I also agree with those who say road tolls will increase congestion, you only have to try and drive through Europe to witness long queues at toll barriers, and get stuck in them. L. Duffy, Edinburgh

No, I don't agree about road tolls because UK motorists already paying road tax and higher fuel tax - if the road tolls are include that we paying too much & its doesn't help to reduce any congestion in the UK. Martin Turnbull, Tayside, Scotland

Road tolls could be useful if the general state of the Scottish roads would improve. However I am against tolls as it just seems to be another scam to print money for the government.

Sufficient revenue is already generated from the vehicle taxes and duties on fuels, but very little of this income goes to the maintenance of roads.

Why should road tolls be any different? Meanwhile our roads are starting to deterioriate. AWK Olivier, Netherlands

It is my experience in the Eastern USA that tolls have become the cause for tremendous traffic congestion.

On the Maine turnpike, the New Hampshire Turnpike and the Massachusetts Turnpike backups at toll stations are horrendous.

Frequently on the Massachusetts pike the traffic backup at one toll station is so bad toll collection is abandoned.  Tolls are not the answer. Peter Dalton-Morris, USA

I disagree completly with road tolls. Motorists have been an easy target for succesive governments to aim many and varied taxes at.

Our petrol in this country is amongst the most expensive in Europe and five times more expensive than in the USA. This is due to huge amounts of duty placed on it and to VAT.

Road tolls will only increase the burden on road hauliers in Scotland where this is already a major cost. Oil for engines carries VAT though that was only added some time after the original introduction or VAT.

The vehicle excise duty or licence was raised onother fiver this year (unless you have a tiny car ). Although not only on car insurance we also pay additional tax on our car insurance.

Remember also that motorists also pay car tax and VAT on new cars and VAT on spares and maintanence. Consider also that the police are only too willing to fine us for not keeping cars roadworthy or for speeding and owning a car is becoming a very expensive item.

Perhaps our MSPs and John "Official Car" Prescott have enough money to drive on our roads but some of us poor workers are finding it difficult!

Before road tolls are introduced perhaps a much better system of public transport should be in place and ALL money raised if such a scheme is started should be put back into public transport. More frequent and 24 hour buses and trains for a start.

In my area (Falkirk) most busses stop before 11pm and the last train from Stirling leaves at 11.03pm.

Finally can I say my own experience of toll roads in America only shows very few people drive on them, most prefer to use the more conjested and longer non-toll roads when possible.

Many small towns here could and would see much more traffic in them if tolls are introduced. Wilson Fraser, Scotland

I pay a specific road toll every working day, called a bridge toll. Its was originally introduced to help pay for the building of the Tay Road bridge and now it pays for the maintenance of the bridge, including the wages of people who collect the tolls in the first place.

The argument for the toll's retention keeps changing over time to the point that it becomes a self-perpetuating mechanism. You cannot have tolls without the bridge, you cannot have the bridge without the tolls.

The same will be for the motorway tolls, originally argued as a way of reducing congestion but will undoubtedly over time be pitched at producing the maximum return in monies.

It will turn into an aggressive tax system whereby the need will be to keep these roads very busy which will ultimately be detrimental to public transport.

You cannot have a subsidised low cost competitor.

The answer as always is well resourced public transport systems funded by taxpayers' money. It is the only way to implement a coherent national transport policy - ask our European partners.