Reducing the Social Costs of Road Traffic

The competitive strength of motor car traffic vis-à-vis other means of transport is partly due to the fact that the society as a whole bears some of the costs of transportation, accidents and environmental pollution. In order to remove such distortions to competition and to limit physical and environmental damage the social costs of motor car traffic should be neutralized via taxes and regulations. Since such taxes reflecting the "true" costs of different forms of transportations can neither be calculated nor administered an array of taxes on purchase, maintenance and operation of motor cars combined with stricter enforcement of technical standards should ensure safety and environmental edaquacy of the motor vehicle stock and its utilization. With public resistance to road construction increasing the problem of contributions to transportation costs will be transformed to one of market-oriented prices for the utilization of scarce transportation space.