California to Consider Weight-Based Registration Fees for Larger Vehicles

Weight-based vehicle registration fees could be coming to California under a proposal in the state legislature, reports Ricardo Cano in the San Francisco Chronicle. “Assembly member Chris Ward, a San Diego Democrat, wants the California Transportation Commission to study the costs and benefits of levying a weight fee for heavy cars to pay for street safety improvement projects.”

While passage of the bill wouldn’t directly lead to a weight-based fee, Ward says “AB 251 will look further into the relationship between vehicle weight and injuries to help inform policy in the future.” The legislation would join at least 14 other states who already have some version of weight-based registration fees.

Research repeatedly highlights the increased risks to pedestrians from bigger, heavier vehicles. “A recent study by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety analyzed recent federal crash data and found that drivers of SUVs and pickup trucks were more than three times likely to hit a pedestrian while turning, compared to smaller vehicles.” As noted in a story we covered earlier this week, heavier vehicles are also increasingly putting a strain on U.S. parking lots and structures, as many of the newest models have a hard time fitting in traditional parking spaces.