Gas taxes need to be raised...but not to "punish" anyone or cut consumption. They need to be raised to provide funding for alternate forms of transport, be it mass transit, bicycles, or pedestrian facilities. As well as research into alternate forms of energy, not so much to replace fuel for personal vehicles but as a replacement for fossil fuels used to power everything else. Until the American public and the American Politicians get over their severe case of cranial inversion and start looking at the big picture and what we have done to the environment and ourselves they are going to continue to be in denial until someone pries the car keys out of their cold dead hands.
I was thinking about just these things yesterday on my Amtrak ride home from my job site yesterday... the train was almost full that was a good 300-400 people that WEREN'T on the highway quite often as single person per vehicle. FWIW the train I was on is the Palmetto which is the Savannah-NYC run. North of my stop that train quite often is sold out! Also as the population ages do we really want 70+ year olds attempting to continue to drive the distances they currently do? Not to generalize, there are plenty of competent older drivers...but it is a proven fact that as people age reflexes and resilience diminish and too many people are to stubborn to recognize this fact. FWIW the Amtrak saves me over $75 a week in fuel costs alone, not to mention the stress involved of having to drive 4 hours at 70mph with some of the idiots loose on our highways.
Aaron
