The hybrid revolution is here to stay, it seems. But could the boom in hybrid sales actually make driving more dangerous?
Hybrid vehicles have soared in popularity since 2000. According to Edmunds, an automotive information provider, hybrid sales increased from 9,350 vehicles in 2000 to more than 346,000 in 2007. They estimate sales to reach 450,000 units by the end of 2009.
Hybrids boast more than double the gas mileage of an SUV, with an average of 46 miles per gallon. Those who have not invested in these lower-emission vehicles have cut their driving time significantly, perhaps as much as 5 percent nationally, or 20 billion fewer miles than last year. Americans are simply buying less gas, and less often.
Aye, there’s the rub. Guess where the money comes from to maintain and repair our roads, bridges, and highways? Gas taxes.
Here in Michigan, we have the fourth-highest gas tax rate in the nation at 54.4 cents per gallon, which includes the 18.4 cents per gallon federal excise tax and state sales tax of 6 percent. Even with a tax that high, we still can’t cover the cost of infrastructure maintenance.
Mary Peters, the secretary of transportation, is the government official who is sweating most about this issue.
“We’re burning less fuel as energy costs change driving patterns, steer people toward more fuel-efficient vehicles and encourage more to use [public] transit. [This] is exactly why we need a more effective funding source than the gas tax,” she reasons.
I’ve not been one to agree with the Bush administration, but Peters is absolutely right. This issue is one that President-elect Barack Obama will have to combat. With so much speculation as to who his Cabinet members will be, why is no one talking about the importance of his secretary of transportation?
On Oct. 25, Obama wrote a letter to the National Industrial Transportation League in which he renewed his support for a $60 billion National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank, a much-needed expansion of federal investment in infrastructure.
“Now is the time to invest in our future and strengthen our core infrastructure. We cannot afford to wait on funding for updated infrastructure and technology to meet increasing passenger demand,” Obama wrote.
Let us hope that he and his administration make this investment sooner rather than later.
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