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Fine, but in that case the trucking companies should also be able to bill the state for all damage caused to their vehicles by badly maintained roads. Maybe eve

Fine, but in that case the trucking companies should also be able to bill the state for all damage caused to their vehicles by badly maintained roads. Maybe every pothole should have an ID so that damage caused by it can be traced back and billed to the state responsible for managing that part of the road? Better still, have rules about maintenance for both roads as well as vehicles, use regular (yearly, past-the-winter-season for roads) inspections and deal with those who do not abide by the rules by (for vehicles) denying road access until problems have been mitigated or (for roads) deductions in road taxes or something similar, something to make it costly for the state to evade their responsibility. Fines don't work here since they'll just increase taxes to pay them, they need to lose funds to at least the amount of what it would have cost to fix the problems.

gosub100 2mo ago
If the retread comes off from hitting a pothole, that's an issue with the re-manufacturer. I didn't use the word "fine" - as in "$500 fine for littering". I said "bill you". If a DoT has to stop and collect a strip of retread then he should bill a proper rate for his time and resources. If a stack of tires is abandoned in the desert, they should be collected, disposed of properly, and send the bill to the owner. A uuid embedded in the tread would facilitate that.
hamdingers 2mo ago
That's backwards, trucks are the cause of most road damage in the first place. Trucking companies should pay enormous fees to use the roads given the disproportionate amount of damage they do to them[1]. It should be cost prohibitive to use trucks for anything but local deliveries. Before you say "this will increase costs for consumers," recognize consumers are already paying for these roads. 1. https://roadtax.carlitelb.org/ https://roadtax.carlitelb.org/
- olyjohn 2mo ago
  Truckers pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel every year. They pay way more gas tax than you do.
  - deleted 2mo ago
    [deleted]
  - hamdingers 2mo ago
    Yes they do, but is it enough? Given a fixed per-gallon gas tax, if you assume a 3000lb, 2 axle vehicle that gets 30mpg is paying enough road tax to cover its usage, then an 80,000lb, 5 axle vehicle would need to consume 320 gallons per mile to be paying gas tax proportionate to its road usage. They don't (thankfully), so it's not. Trucks are massively subsidized by everyone else.

gosub100 2mo ago

If the retread comes off from hitting a pothole, that's an issue with the re-manufacturer. I didn't use the word "fine" - as in "$500 fine for littering". I said "bill you". If a DoT has to stop and collect a strip of retread then he should bill a proper rate for his time and resources. If a stack of tires is abandoned in the desert, they should be collected, disposed of properly, and send the bill to the owner. A uuid embedded in the tread would facilitate that.

hamdingers 2mo ago

That's backwards, trucks are the cause of most road damage in the first place. Trucking companies should pay enormous fees to use the roads given the disproportionate amount of damage they do to them[1]. It should be cost prohibitive to use trucks for anything but local deliveries. Before you say "this will increase costs for consumers," recognize consumers are already paying for these roads. 1. https://roadtax.carlitelb.org/ https://roadtax.carlitelb.org/

olyjohn 2mo ago
Truckers pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel every year. They pay way more gas tax than you do.
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- hamdingers 2mo ago
  Yes they do, but is it enough? Given a fixed per-gallon gas tax, if you assume a 3000lb, 2 axle vehicle that gets 30mpg is paying enough road tax to cover its usage, then an 80,000lb, 5 axle vehicle would need to consume 320 gallons per mile to be paying gas tax proportionate to its road usage. They don't (thankfully), so it's not. Trucks are massively subsidized by everyone else.