| I think that rather than use this source as a way to highlight issues with a strict interpretation of the 4th-power law, you should have commented how your source says you should not use a strict interpretation of the 4th-power law. For example, it highlights how the damage also depends on the road construction, with highways and major arterials built to a higher standard. As a general rule, a fully-loaded 123 passenger bus is running on an arterial, not a residential street like someone driving their Hummer EV home does, so you can't compare the road damage simply by axle weight. Your source even highlights how "it is possible for fewer, heavier buses to damage pavement less than more, lighter buses." That's all part of larger cost/benefit analysis, like how building for a longer service life for the bus means using heavier parts, which increases the weight, or how running fewer, larger buses reduces emissions per passenger-mile. The owner of the Hummer EV does a different cost/benefit analysis, with some of the costs born by the government and thus shared across the taxpayers. Without extra fees for heavier vehicle owners, they end up paying the same as light vehicle owners despite the higher negative impacts of their heavy vehicles. |