On Sunday, September 4, 2005, at 05:50 AM, Dave Dahlgren wrote:
> The real fuel and highway killers are the tractor trailer trucks that
> get
> around 6 to 7 mpg and beat the road surface to death that you and I
> pay for
> in road taxes on gasoline.. We are subsidizing the whole business of
> these
> things.. A truck can easily weigh as much as 20 cars and it is how
> hard you
> tread on the pavement that wears it out along with speed. Sit down and
> do
> the road tax calcs on who pays for what and you might be surprised.
Big semi rigs get better mileage these days -- 8-10 mpg isn't that
uncommon, especially with the aero they run, and the change to "gear
fast/run slow" drive trains, and the move to shutting off the motors
when not moving (although not all of them do that yet. . .).
As for the weight doing more damage to the road surface -- Michigan
charges more for heavy truck licenses than for light ones. It's called
"elected GVW", and means that I can license my road tractor for 54,000
(GCWR) pounds for about $1200/year -- but a heavy rig, like a gravel
hauler, might spend $4,000 to get his license tags. My route trucks
are licensed for 24k/26k# -- I pay in the $500/year range for the
license plates. But - when you get weighed you'd best weigh less than
what's displayed on your license -- or you get to spend a few extra
dollars at the D O T. So -- there's some effort to charge for what
wear they cause. As far as I know, though, Michigan's the only state
with such a rule.
Most states follow an 80,000# GCWR limit, so a full semi can weigh as
much as twenty cars. Twenty 4,000# cars, in fact. Michigan allows up
to 161,000# -- you just pay more for it, and don't cross out of the
state until you weigh less.
Jon Wennerberg
Seldom Seen Slim Land Speed Racing
Marquette, Michigan
(that's 'way up north)
|