Driving in The Broken Lane

How many miles do you drive in a month, in a year? If you are like me, you might say that’s none of my business. If some in our state legislature get their way, the miles you drive might be public record and taxed.

It’s no secret that California has some – okay, a lot of – bad roads. Many of the bridges we drive on every day are not just decrepit they are dangerous.

In a report published by Transportation for America, a Washington, DC coalition, California ranks 18^th in the nation for dangerous bridges. Of the state’s 24,542 bridges, 3,135 are considered structurally deficient. That means that every day in this state 82,647,465 vehicles are risking a drive on a dangerous bridge.

In Riverside County, 101 of our 1058 bridges are structurally deficient, but in San Bernardino County 195 of their 1366 bridges are on the bad list. The county with the worst bridges is San Francisco County where some 35.4 percent of the bridges are at risk. But they only have 116 bridges.

And that’s just the bridges. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about the potholes, narrow and odd narrow-to-wide-to-narrow streets that give an extra dimension to the driving experience. Then of course, there is the traffic. It appears even bad roads don’t deter high volumes of traffic. Some days it seems there could not possibly be any cars left in driveways or parking lots. They all must be on the road where I’m driving.

Our legislators say they are running out of money to address the problems. They are telling us that the only funds available are from the tax applied to the fuel we use. They complain that energy efficient vehicles and lower fuel prices are not filling the state transportation kitty as fast as they can spend it. New sources of funding must be found before our bridges collapse and the roads turn to dust.

Several ideas are being floated in the legislature to solve the road maintenance deficit. One idea proposed by Assembly Speaker, Tony Atkins, D-San Diego is an annual road fee of about $52 per vehicle.

Another idea being floated is a mileage tax. Although there are scant details of how this would be implemented, there can be no doubt that you would have to report how many miles you drive in a given period.

The trouble with any of these ideas is that they place the burden of paying for roads squarely on the shoulders of Californians. But we aren’t the only drivers on many of the roads. Over-the-road trucking companies and out-of-state drivers would get a free ride.

And what about the toll roads that seem to be proliferating in the state? Will there come a time when the term “Freeway” will be obsolete? Are our legislators implying that the toll roads don’t pay for their own maintenance?

Germany has some of the nicest roads I have ever driven on. And it’s not just the major highways and Autobahn. Those small country roads that stretch from one small village to another are actually a delight to drive on.

Well, yes, I have been confronted with the ubiquitous construction and road maintenance obstacles in Germany. Those are unavoidable in any country. At least they are fixing the road so the users can drive safely at over 100 mph on them again.

How does Germany pay for these wonderful arteries? It all comes from the General revenue fund and tolls from the few toll roads that exist. The revenues from the German taxes on gasoline and motor vehicle registration accrue to the federation, yet they are not tied to highway maintenance or construction.

Fair enough, but I still see quite a number of trucks with Polish and Netherlands license plates on German roads. I suppose they get a free ride, but there may be just as many German trucks on the other country’s roads too.

From this example, it would seem that funding road maintenance and construction from the general fund would solve the problem and have us driving on smooth and safe roads. I see only two drawbacks with this method: one, getting a tax increase for the general fund would require a ballot; two, putting more money into the general fund is no guarantee it would be spent on roads and bridges. Once politicians get an extra buck, they always seem to find a new project to spend it and an additional 50 cents on.

Well, we are saving money on gas, but every time the public actually gets to save money, the government wants to grab that savings. Okay, a dollar saved, a dollar sent to tax. That’s a net gain of zero. But what happens when the fuel prices go back up – like they are trending now? Will the taxman adjust for the increase in prices? Dream on.