Comment by Mawr

I couldn't agree more, we should make sure cyclists and motorists pay their fair share.

1. The damage caused to a road surface is governed by the fourth power law [1]:

"This means that after 160,000 crossings, the bicycle causes as much damage as the car does when driving on the road only once. From this it can be deduced that a large part of the damage in the streets is caused by heavy motor vehicles compared to the damage caused by lighter vehicles."

2. Dedicated cycling infrastructure has the lowest cost of all vehicle infrastructure [2]:

"The annual infrastructure costs per traveller kilometre are 0.03 euros for bicycles, 0.10 euros for cars, 0.14 euros for buses, and 0.18 euros for trains."

3. The implication that whatever extra taxes motorists pay cover all externalities of driving, like death and injuries (40 000 deaths per year in the US alone) and health complications from brake dust and tire rubber seems laughably naive to me but perhaps there are some hard numbers that say otherwise?

I too yearn for the day motorists pay for the damage they cause.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law

[2]: https://www.government.nl/binaries/government/documenten/rep...