Governments don't work like corporations at all, so this "perverse incentive" is, frankly, nonsense. Governments can get replaced by an electorate that aren't

Governments don't work like corporations at all, so this "perverse incentive" is, frankly, nonsense. Governments can get replaced by an electorate that aren't happy with, say, the state of the roads. In fact, you'll usually see a lot of potholes magically get filled in around local election time. Also, the revenue raised by vehicle taxes are usually completely blown away by the costs of maintaining infrastructure, dealing with accidents, enforcing laws, etc. The above reason is why governments tolerate all this expense. If they were a corporation, huge amounts of work would have gone into getting rid of cars to reduce the expense line they cause.