Yeah the shit’s out of control in the US. People don’t need goddamn huge cars.
Europe used to laugh at American big cars, but recently the cars on our roads get bigger and bigger too :-(
Yeah I am glad at least that a number of countries are taking measures to de-car city centers. They’re a blight. Especially these big stupid SUVs.
Biggest misnomer in the Auto industry. They are neither sporty nor utilitarian.
They have, but it’s still nothing compared to the US. I drive a Nissan Qashqai. It’s quite a big car in The Netherlands. There are bigger of course (like the big Volvo XC 70 and 90) but I’m definitely on the bigher size on the road. But my car would be tiny in the US. It would be like driving an old Fiat 500 over here.
People will look me dead in the face and tell me they need the SUV because the kids have hockey practice, I wouldn’t understand. As if my dad didn’t take me to hockey practice in a Toyota Terecel.
Unfortunately, the US Environmental Protection Agency (emphasis on mental) has rules in place regarding emissions per unit length of vehicle which effectively penalize manufacturers who make small vehicles.
Worse is those who don’t know how to drive them. I hear all the time ohh that massive vehicle is like any other car. New money seems to be most of who buy huge vehicles in US. Got to show off in front of the poor people…actual remember news it is a metric of how the economy is doing. As old money buy affordable and reliable.
Cycle to work every day, 3 miles one way, I know in my bones from repeated experiences that the bigger the vehicle, the less likely they see you
That one picture of even front-end visibility always stuck with me. It’s something stupid like 15 kids in a line and the driver can’t see them. You could drive into a classroom worth of children and not see it.
If it’s the same one I’m thinking of, a couple/few of the biggest trucks have less visibility than an M1-A1 Abrams TANK…
To be fair I’m pretty sure Abrams (and most other modern western tanks) have really good driver’s/commander’s sights compared to any vehicle at all
I had a guy in a pickup drive right into my 8ft long trailer when I as stopped at a light. He pulled up to me while I was stopped fine, but then he couldn’t see my trailer and 30 seconds later started rolling forward while the light was still red and hit it. I was very annoyed and when I talked to him he said he forgot it was there and couldn’t see it. I was speechless.
I’m getting really annoyed by these articles about saint Hidalgo. Resident parking ie for people who live within the city parish limit won’t be subject to these new prices. But it is the people with really high income who live in the 8e and 16e who drive around Paris in Range Rovers and Audi Q7, alone in their cars, not the cleaning people from La Courneuve and Saint Denis who works in the offices and uses the RER B to commute to work. Not your regular office people as they either commute or bike to the office. And for those of us who decide to move further away from the first ring of surburb, we do have cars but use public transit if we need to go to Paris, either for work or leisure as it’s a lot faster and far less expensive.
It’s just a damn smoke screen as Parisians won’t be affected.
Translation for non-Parisians:
- Hidalgo is the current mayor of Paris, who has an (arguably false?) reputation for promoting urbanist policies
- 6e and 18e refer to two districts («arrondissement») in Paris populated by rich people
- RER B is a transit line connecting central Paris with Parisian suburbs
Peut-être les automobilistes parisiens seront-ils affectés dans un second temps?
J’ai beaucoup de doutes sur ça. Elle a beau dire qu’elle souhaite protéger les gens de petite couronne avec cette votation, jusqu’à présent ses actions ont été en faveur des parisiens et contre les banlieusards. Ça m’étonnerait qu’elle ait changé sa vision d’un coup, elle en a juste assez de se faire taper par les élus d’IdF pour ses décisions non-concertées donc elle s’ajoute un polish « altruiste ».
Sur le principe, je suis d’accord avec limiter l’usage des SUV, nos infrastructures ne sont pas faites pour mais soit c’est tout le monde qui prend soit personne.
People in Slovakia keep buying them more and more and they don’t even fit into the parking spaces…
Aw what? I’m trying to move to Slovakia partially because I want to escape this nonsense (though also because my grandfather’s family is Slovak-Hungarian and I like Slovak language), this is devastating news for my distaste for being crushed by large objects travelling at fast speeds
But ma big ride!
