In Europe, for instance, gasoline prices are regularly at three or four dollars a gallon. As high as American prices may seem to us, they are still among the lowest in the world. This has terrible consequences both for Americans and for people in the countries who supply the oil. The difference is accounted for largely by public policy, which in the US artificially subsidizes drivers at great cost to the environment and better alternatives such as public transport. One of the consequences of this difference in public policy is that in Europe people buy smaller, more efficient cars.
Manufacturers can even compete on efficiency, rather than on testosterone-driven engine power.
The extra tax collected helps pay for public transport which works. The auto industry, having saturated the market for passenger cars, is now trying to convince us that we all need a truck as well. But of course it is not really free. There is an enormous government subsidy involved. It is a fact that drivers do not pay anything close to the true cost of driving.