The environmental cost of driving
From ENN or Environmental News Network
Friday, May 11, 2001
The following is an excerpt from the above article:
" With new forecasts of gas prices soaring to $3 to $5
per gallon in the United States this summer,
consumers are once again talking about how
expensive it is to operate a motor vehicle.
But a public policy group based in Oakland,
California, claims that drivers actually pay less than
half of the costs created by automobile use.
In a recently released paper, "Beyond Gas Taxes:
Linking Driving Fees to Externalities," the group
Redefining Progress claims that the costs of
increased congestion, paving over land to create
roads, accidents and pollution are never included in
the costs of driving.
Redefining Progress defines itself as a group
seeking to "ensure a more sustainable and socially
equitable world." Its paper asserts that non-drivers,
taxpayers and drivers alike pay every time another
driver gets behind the wheel.
"A driver pays for gasoline, insurance and repairs in
order to derive the benefits of driving but not for the
traffic and pollution that affect nearby people," writes
program director Mark Glickman, author of the
paper. "There simply aren't financial incentives for
drivers to take these costs into account when they drive,
so as a society we all drive more than we would like."
The group suggests that drivers should be charged for the social costs created by automobile use
through options other than gas taxes.
For example, charging for highway use during rush hour could be used to ease traffic problems by
keeping people off the roads during those hours, and pay-as-you-drive insurance could reduce
automobile crashes."
enn.com |
