"Three percent of European Union GDP is said to be taken up by external costs relating to road transport, such as noise, pollution, accidents and climate change, according to the findings of the study. The study – which is a compilation of current estimates of external costs that they approximate, so it is a realistic mean according to the organisers of the conference – considered that each car in the EU causes costs of €1,600 per year, i.e. equivalent to €373 billion, i.e. nearly 3% of EU GDP, mainly due to accidents and climate change – accidents (41%), climate change (37%), the rest air pollution, noise and others. But a quarter of households in Europe don’t have a car! Annually, each citizen whether they own a car or not, is estimated to pay 750 EURO (paid by the state from their tax money) annually to cover these costs. The study’s message is: Car use is expensive. There are ‘hidden external costs’. From the fact that these costs are ‘hidden’, road transport appears cheap to users, where in fact it is not. Therefore the choices transport users make are ill informed and based on an incorrectly ‘cheap’ perception of car use. By making these costs known and ‘internalising them’, transport choices can become more rational and self-regulating market mechanisms will be allowed to apply themselves. This will ultimately make road transport use cheaper, as external costs will decrease!"