Originally Posted by
surreal
I don't want to outlaw automobiles, but I would like to see some more accountability, as GodsBassist suggests. If you kill someone while driving, and you did something illegal or unlawful when you did it, you need to be held responsible. Cars killing ppl on the sidewalk, with no citations, let alone jail time. Unbelievable.
I'd also like to see the auto industry paying its own way. Beyond the direct and indirect oil subsidies, the outrageous Big 3 bailout, and the endless road-widening projects that occur in my neck of the woods, there ought to be some sort of tax levied on the CO2 output and the use of antifreeze, brake fluid, and other nasties that are associated with running an auto.
For the record, I'd gladly pay that on my truck, and I'd be willing to pay an equitably scaled-down version for the
#2 grease and chain lube I use on my bikes.
The article states that the cost in fatalities per licensed driver is $500/yr. There are seventy to eighty times as many injured as killed by cars every year. Let's low-ball the cost of an injury to two percent as expensive as a death. That means the annual societal cost in deaths and injuries is over $25,000 per licensed driver. Are you ready to pay that? On top of that, the average cost of operating a motor vehicle is about $7000 (Of course no one ever admits that their costs even approach this number). Then there's the fact that the motorist is paying for less than half the road damage they cause.
It's starting to be real money here. Are you sure you would be okay with motorists paying their own way without subsidies?