Agreed. I believe it was WRC rally champ Collin McRae who said 'complacence kills'. And that is what it boils down to no matter what you drive. Even lacking the maneuverability of a small car, just assuming that other drivers will screw up can mitigate a fatality or accident altogether.

Just two days ago, I was driving 20 mph through a school zone after hours where people normally do 30 or more when a 8-9 year old boy ran out in front of me. Even at my slow speed, had I not been assuming the worst, this kid, who was completely obstructed from my view by a much larger child until he bolted, would have been F150 meat. Anybody else who had actually waited to ride the brake pedal until the kid started running would have flattened him.

I'm not arguing that I am the safest driver in the world as a justification to drive my gas guzzling kiddie muncher, but people should at least aspire to be because THAT is what makes the biggest difference of all.

I love it. Remarkably, it's probably true that cupholders reduce accidents. I can't count the number of 32 oz. sodas that spilled in my old work truck for lack of a cup holder. Fortunately I always had the presence of mind to just let it go, but there's allot of dried up soda saturating that truck.

Again, an issue of complacence. I ask myself what the worst that could happen is every time I back up and this keeps me exceptionally paranoid. If my two year old is anywhere outside, I won't even move our truck unless I can see him. I'd be suicidal if anything happened. It's simply not a result that I could live with.

Actually the United States is 27 times as big as Finland but has 60 times the population and 75 times more road km. (From the CIA world fact book)

It seems in this case the amount of road is directly proportional to the population and as the USA has a higher GDP per capita you should be able to afford better roads than us.

On the other hand our government is good at collecting taxes, the cheapest Toyota cost nearly $25,000 due to the car tax and gas is $6/gallon

You see the easiest way to get fuel efficient vehicles on the roads is to put a a big enviromental tax on fuel, the market economy will take care of the rest, no complex regulations needed :) Still not fun at the pump :(

Simon

Death is better than paying UK / Canada type tax. I believe thats one of the reasons the US became to be. :)

Simon -

The USA road system would have been formed with the luxury of access to it's own cheap oil supply (Texas), so I think the original economics behind building the road systems in the USA would have been different when compared to Finland. In the built environment in the USA, I think the ratio of developed land that is devoted to roads is something like 33%. I think it would be much less in Finland.

In post cheap-oil USA I think it would cost much more to improve the roads. However, I do think the money is there if we really wanted to invest in the USA infrastructure. High speed trains, new bridges, restored roads, and JOBS!

I agree. Welcome to GasSavers! I like the "crude oil price" indicator on your website. We should have something like that here.

CarloSW2

In Saskatchewan, about 1/3 of the price of gas is tax and all goods/services have an 11% tax added on (5% provincial sales tax & 6% federal sales tax). So that $15,000 sticker price car would end up costing $16,650.

What are the the taxes in Finland like?

The U.S. still pays it, just not directly. Factoring in all the subsidies to oil companies, all the defense spending needed to protect our oil supplies, all the personal and property damage caused by oil pollution, gas would easily exceed $10/gallon.

Excessive direct taxes are bad, but so too are excessive subsidies. The U.S. has the same exact problem even if it may not appear that way at first glance. $200 billion a year is spent on corporate welfare alone, never mind all the expensive tax-funded contracts to giant companies, which are lined with huge profit margins that the taxpayers are billed for.

The U.S. government was not intended to be a wealth redistribution scheme by our founding fathers, not from the rich to the poor, nor from the poor to the rich. Unlike the nanny states like UK/Canada which tend to distribute in the former manner, we distribute in the latter.

One thing that's worse than excessive direct taxes are the indirect taxes we pay. They are undemocratic and unaccountable. That's why kleptocracies like the U.S. banana republic uses them with such wild abandon.

Be proud of America: we have the best government money can buy.

And if you don't like it, go buy your own senators!

Good idea :D

I dug up an example from a local website to make sure I have the number right.

Taking a 20.000 EUR Toyta as an example

Selling price 20.000 EUR ($26 734)
Value added tax (VAT) 3.600 EUR
Importer and dealer margin 4.000 EUR
Car tax 5.400 EUR
Cost of car when imported 7.000 EUR

The car tax in this example is 27% of the final price and the VAT is 18% making a total of 45% taxes.

The car tax is really bad, otherwise it's nice to live in Finland, education is virtually free for example, it's possible to take a univeristy degree without loan, scholarship or support from your parents

Simon