Connect to share and comment The EU experiments with an
innovative system that charges motorists according to driving
patterns. BRUSSELS, Belgium — Everyone knows that each kilometer
you drive costs you money, in fuel and wear-and-tear on your
car. But even in the European Union, where gas averages an
excruciating $7.84 per gallon, it’s relatively easy to avoid
thinking about the expense in between the uncomfortable
incidences of filling your tank or needing auto repairs. But
what if you could see the cost of driving in real time? Would it
affect the roads people took, or the time of day they travel? A
new push in the EU to “internalize” the “external costs” of
transportation may make the day-to-day – or literally
“kilometer-to-kilometer -- price of driving a bit harder to
ignore in the not-so-distant future. For some volunteers in
Leuven, Belgium, that moment is now. Officials in this
university town about 30 kilometers east of Brussels are trying
out a system that tracks people’s driving patterns and charge