Europeans have adjusted their budgets to the fact we're paying a lot of taxes and have high transportation costs. It's also a misconception that Europe is a very rail-minded continent, it's not. We do have a lot of rail, and some places, especially the denser, older cities have high rail ridership, but overall Europe is predominantly a car-minded continent.
Personally, I think most Europeans do not know better than to pay a lot of taxes. Gas prices have been high here like forever, they were in the $ 6 range way before the oil spikes of last year.
However, considering the amount of taxes motorists pay, and how much they get into return (usually around 10 - 15%), it's really a scandal, especially in countries that do little to upgrade road infrastructure, like the Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway etc.
Not all European countries are like that though, there are significant investments in roads in countries like France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and most Eastern European countries that joined the EU.