https://www.thedrive.com/news/75-more-pedestrians-have-been-killed-since-2009-giant-trucks-and-suvs-are-why “thousands of deaths would have been prevented over the past 16 years if cars had not grown so significantly in both height and weight” #WarOnCars #walkable #PublicSafety #GovernmentFailure

Inspired by this @genehack post (https://dementedandsadbut.social/@genehack/116732102001729179), here's a question: have any academics actually done the math on what the tax/fee burden would be if we stopped trying to fund road maintenance with fuel taxes, and instead did all of:

1. Charge road maintenance fees based entirely on weight × miles driven. Get rid of "commercial vehicle" carve-outs.
2. Tax fuels solely based on environmental costs (pollution in terms of PM2.5, PM10, smog, acid rain, diesel complications, cost of remediation, etc).
3. Tax tires based on their pollution costs (microplastics, heavy metals, disposal, etc).

I think if you stop trying to pay for roads with fuel taxes and simply tax fuels on consumption, you can get rid of "off road diesel" since usage would just be usage across the board. Similarly, if you tax tires and charge disposal fees for materials that can't be reclaimed, you provide incentives for people to manufacture and buy tires that pollute less.

(Also, this veers into #WarOnCars territory, but there should be congestion pricing anywhere air quality is an issue and not just Manhattan. So, DC and LA of course, but also, say, Salt Lake City, where shit like that is totally necessary and would never fly).

"His wealth is on paper." - ED NIEDERMEYER, Inside the Tesla Takedown Protests, The War on Cars #WarOnCars #EdNiedermeyer