Quote:
Originally Posted by M_Six
I lived in Germany in the mid-80's when most autobahns in Bayern were wide open. We went back in 2009 and I was shocked at the traffic. Around the cities the right lanes were near solid lines of trucks. The construction everywhere (needed to handle the traffic) made things worse. The Germans I spoke with explained the huge increase in traffic, especially trucks, since the opening of the borders. Germany really is the crossroads of Europe. Makes sense to have those who use their roads pay for them.
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Yea... traffic has increased since the borders are now "open" without passport controls. Now a days its common to see cars from countries from far to the East of Germany. In theory we have a United States of Europe... but in practice it really doesn't work.
Yes, its only fair to pay your fair share. Most trucks have one 500 liter fuel tank. It's not allowed to install a second aux fuel tank - but some do. German fuel gets taxed to pay for the roads - over 65% of the fuel price(per liter)amounts to tax! The problem is IF a truck can drive from Romania to England AND back(!), without refueling... Germany looses out on that tax source. The roads get more wear and tear... and no tax money for rebuilding the road network. This is one reason the LWK(truck) electronic tolls went up a few years ago. They always said the system would never be used for cars - but we all knew this was a lie. We all know a tax on cars(to use the German road network & Autobahns) would come one day.
In the past the ADAC(German Automobile Club. think of AAA and the Gun lobby, and you get the idea of the ADAC's political power) has always shot down any attempt to tax(or place a toll) on German cars driving in Germany. But this year ADAC had a few scandals of their own and their political power is not what it use to be.
Also fuel is a lot cheap from either Eastern or Western countries bc they tax their fuel less. Consequently, German gas stations on either German border(East and West) have gone out of business. People can drive 15km and pay 20 euro cents less for fuel from East, West and Southern countries.
Dackel