I've written about the subject of public transportation before, so I'll make this post brief. John Judis posted an article today for the New Republic (here) calling on Obama for massive infrastructure spending roughly equivalent to what we would spend if involved in a world war.

Judis calls for increased spending on high-speed electric trains. As I mentioned in my earlier post (here), Judis points out that auto factories could become train factories. Simple enough. But to emphasize how far we are from building such a rail system, Judis points out that it would cost $40 billion for California alone, $32 billion for the Northeast corridor, and hundreds of billions for the rest of the country. How much has been allotted to revitalize our rail system? $5 billion. 

Judis' broader point is that we need to ramp up spending, a lot. But, aside from shifting tax spending, how do we bridge this gap in funding? According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administraiton, the total cost of car accidents in 2000 was around $230 billion.  Or, if we look at the National Safety Council stats on total cost from all injuries in 2005(auto or otherwise), we see it amounts to around $630 billion. As nearly half of these injuries are caused by cars, it's safe to say that car-related injuries cost around $300 billion that year. In other words, the rail system could be largely paid for by the future promise of drastically reduced driving.

But trains can't replace cars, you think to yourself. And you're right in thinking this. But busses, taxis, and delivery services can replace cars. And while I could dredge up statistics on the total costs of car ownership (from buying the car to the amount peopel overspend on car maintenance and fuel), this is unnecessary. Busses are obviously more efficient in densely populated areas. Even in suburban or semi-rural areas, a bus/communal taxi service would be more efficient and cost effective than cars. Only in the most sparasely populated areas does private car ownership make sense. For those looking to get away for awhile, we could expand the Zipcar model (localized rental cars). 

When you really think about it, the numbers I cited earlier don't begin to sum up the real cost of losing lives to car accidents. What is the real cost of losing the primary breadwinner in a family? I'm not just talking emotional costs -- I really mean what does it cost to support a family who has lost its primary means of support? What does it cost to imprison everyone who has committed a crime with their car, such as a DUI? Really, our roads aren't so different from a warzone, and I imagine their real cost isn't so different from the cost of war, either.