Gas taxes do not cover the entirety of road maintenance, so let's not even bother going down that road. And objectively, the average empty pickup truck is going to be heavier than a sedan.
Not bother with facts? Okay then!
Isn't choosing an EV, also choosing more weight over same size sedan? More on-topic, don't you suppose the cybertruck also weighs more than an F150 with similar payload space?
Americans buy SUVs because they seem safer. But they’re more likely to kill people who aren’t in cars.
www.curbed.com
When those pickups hit pedestrians, they're more likely to die. Hence, more dangerous.
I have never hit anyone in any SUV I've ever owned. If you are suggesting I shouldn't be allowed to have an SUV because of something someone else did, that argument will not fly in the US. How about good old personal responsibility, of both the drivers AND the pedestrians?
I wouldn't be opposed at all to a higher tier of license needed for an SUV, requiring the holder to demonstrate safe operation equivalent to what the average car driver must have. If you want to dismiss the possibility of them being driven safely, there are plenty of SUV owners who have never been in an accident at all, let alone hit a pedestrian. My oldest SUV, now 22, is one such example.
And are passenger vehicles more dangerous when they're small due to their inherent design or because people want to drive their land barges which are then dangerous to smaller vehicles?
Both. Even if everyone had smaller vehicles, they still have smaller crumple zones.
There are plenty of sedans with 5-star safety ratings, so I don't really buy the idea that small = dangerous for occupants.
Then you don't understand much about crash testing. The ratings have no reflection on amount of damage relative to vehicle size /weight, given apples to apples, same vehicle age and safety tech.
When you're looking for fuel efficiency, you're probably looking at small cars. But are they as safe as bigger cars?
www.edmunds.com
We dedicate so much public space to private vehicle storage, that's why I care. Even private lots at stores - vast wastelands of asphalt for bigger and bigger vehicles.
Strange 1st world problem? Of all the land use in the US, I don't think a few % larger parking lots ranks up there as a problem society needs to fix.
Pollution and climate change are everyone's problems. These vehicles don't exist in a vacuum. I'm not looking to ban them, but they should actually bear the costs they are imposing on society.
So you are suggesting it is okay for you to pollute doing what you want, but anything you don't want, everyone else should have to pay more for?
One thing is clear, that we need a higher tax on fuel efficient vehicles in order to make up for the lower fuel tax revenue, to keep up with the public road infrastructure.
EVs in particular, will have to have a further additional tax on them to pay for the electric grid improvements. No matter how the power is generated, there will still be that cost increase.