The OICA study is not meant to deliver absolutely accurate figures about the negative externalities of road transport. Its main goal is to indicate an approximate level and to show the future trend of external costs in a dynamic approach. The results clearly indicate a downward trend in the so-called external costs of the motor vehicle for all countries investigated in the study. Moreover, in Western Europe, there are no such costs which would serve as an argument for higher levies on road transport. On the contrary, in the year 2010 societies in Western Europe will benefit from a surplus of income over the social costs of the motor vehicle of almost 190 billion ECU. What should be the consequences of these results? The figures presented in the study clearly show, that the aggressive strategy of innovations, investments and incentives the automotive industry has chosen in order to reduce environmental damage and road accidents and is continuing to follow is a successful and most promising way to take care of the societies' desires for a cleaner and safer environment. The results also confirm that there is no need for further internalization of the so-called external costs, at least not as far as road transport in Western Europe is concerned where the discussion about external costs and its internalization has been most intensive. Defensive strategies of attempting to shift road tragic to other modes, avoiding so-called "unnecessary' trips or making road transport more expensive to users by increasing road taxation can no longer be considered as an appropriate measure to achieve environmental improvements. The goal all parties should have in common is to reduce the social costs of transport and to make transport more efficient. This, however, would not only require a reduction of the environmental and accident costs of the motor vehicle to a large extent, in which the automotive industry is already on the way to success, but also a sharp decrease of the subsidies paid by societies to rail transport. Instead of maximizing tax revenues from road transport, which seems to be a permanent temptation for hard-pressed exchequers, with surpluses being diverted into subsidies for other modes of transport or even non-transport purposes, increasing re-investments for improving and updating transport systems are required. In particular, financial resources should be concentrated on those investments which will yield the most attractive return in terms of economic, environmental and safety benefits. Finally, it is clear that the assessment of the social costs is a part of an overall evaluation of different transport modes. The other side of the coin, the social benefits will also have to be taken into account in the future. (Author/publisher)
Abstract