Taxing vehicle by weight and size.
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2023/06/23/report-provides-more-reasons-to-rein-in-supersized-suvs-as-if-you-needed-more
Makes sense but... Now we'll see how powerful the NY Auto Dealers lobby is.
>lobby
Yeah they might kill it. But the weight and size tax is gaining ground, especially once electric vehicles become common. The idea is out there and it won't go away.
We do it with commercial vans & trucks.
I had a Sprinter van that was fitted out as a passenger van. When I titled it as an asset of my company I had to buy 'weighted' plates. Years later, when I bought it from the company and titled it as a personal vehicle I could buy regular plates. Oh, and I could now haul or tow unlimited weight on those personal plates. It didn't make sense. A license fee based on a consumer vehicle's weight, number of axles or -better yet- wheels would be easier to administer and much more likely to work as intended.
This would not work for trucks used for shipping though. They'd overload it every day. (BTW, a trucker told me that log trucks and chip trucks were the most likely to be overloaded.)
>>log trucks
Probably so. They are legally allowed to exceed the limit for other kinds of trucks and they are commonly driving routes that never pass a scale.
I remember the guy who logged our land wanted to get one more log on the load and a 12-foot section of white fir was 5500 pounds with one end still on the ground (his crane had a scale and he did add the numbers and try to stay under 28,000 pounds - he hauled with a dump truck b/c it was easier to maneuver).
https://titanww.com/resources/axle-weight-limit/california/
Back to the point, though, this winter we saw how much weight matters. As the ground became saturated, heavy vehicles would just deform the road. You can drive a thousand Smart cars and do less damage than one pass by the truck coming to haul trash.
>legally allowed to exceed the limit for other kinds of trucks
I don't think that's the case here in NC. When I travel inside nearby logging counties (pine) I see the DMV pull them fairly often.
>driving routes that never pass a scale
DMV here drive medium-large SUVs and carry portable scales. They'll weigh a truck right on the road.
Rumor has it that Norfolk Southern Railways donated those scales to NCDMV. That's diabolical, if true.