When an aging and nearly defunct industry makes strides for innovation that would have marvelled the world 30-years ago, they use their hyper-capitalist connections to give themselves a proverbial "pat-on-the-back".
The automotive industry has been in possession of the technology to produce fuel efficient products for decades, a fact which is neither a half-baked conspiracy theory or a secret. However, even David Frost would probably not be able to get any auto industry executive, oil industry executive or steel manufacturer to admit to that fact.
Fuel efficiency, innovation in design, durability and efficiency in manufacturing are all factors which lead us to the next portion of our analysis of the national transportation scheme; maintenance and operation of your private automobile.
Let us begin with a number from the previous discussion; 1.75 or the average number of licensed drivers per household in the United States. In the same data set, we find that there are an average of 1.90 automobiles per household; which shows that there are more automobiles than drivers in the U.S..
What this demonstrates is Hyper-Capitalism's deep-seeded influence on our consumption habits. Essentially, there is a surplus of automobiles which are owned by licensed driver but not driven on a regular basis.
If we move on from this point, we are introduced to another overwhelming statistic; in 2006 American drivers logged 2,658,621 highway miles in private passenger cars alone. Keep in mind that this does not include motorcycles or any other form of private transportation.
Passenger cars accounted for more than half of all miles logged on highways in 2006. More than motorcylces, trucks and buses COMBINED. Additionally, American passengers logged a meager 52,154-miles on all forms of public, private or subsidized transit in that same year.
Furthermore, 79% of commuters drive to work alone. A measly 9% of commuters utilized carpooling. Keep these numbers in mind while we continue our exploration.
Getting back to the operational costs of driving a private automobile, we find that in 2004 it cost approximately 56-cents per mile to operate an auto. What this means is that Americans spent a whopping $1,488,827.76 on operational costs for their private autos.(note: in 2004 the number of highway miles for passenger cars was around 27,000-miles more than in 2006)
Looking at similar data we find that the average cost-per-vehicle (while driving 15,000-miles per year, which for most people is far less than the actual miles they log) is around $8,000. Combine that with the 1.90 autos that Americans own and we find that the average American spends approximately $15,430 per year owning and maintaining their autos.
So, in addition to the $167.24 that you have contributed to the automobile manufacturers in the past month, the average American is spend over $15,000 per year simply maintaining and operating their automobiles.
Remember, 79% of commuters drove alone to-and-from their place of employment, while only 4.3% utilized a means of public transportation.
The development of and access to a viable means of public transportation becomes the issue; and leaves with our next challenge in developing, planning and implementing an equitable and sustainable transportation plan for our nation.
“Present highways are to a large extent the three-dimensional representation of existing laws. If more creative highway planning and design concepts are to be realized, they must be preceded by legislation to permit and encourage them.” -Michael Rapuano, unpublished memo
Posts
