124 points

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49 points

The whole chart is rather fascinating and eye opening: Vehicle visibility

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32 points

Astounding. Hummer H2 beating the Sierra by 3m is incredible. A truck designed almost exclusively to express how selfish you are and it has better viability.

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5 points

This chart is eye-opening…I always thought Hummers were made by…Hummer…

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25 points
*

Thanks, embedding:

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19 points

An articulated quarry hauler is barely worse than a pick-up truck

‘murca

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6 points

I’d be curious to see that chart for a Toyota Yaris. I drove one for a few years and it was almost unnerving how little hood it had.

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5 points

Same here. Going from a 1990 VW Passat to a 2009 Yaris was wild.

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25 points

I will gladly trade my SUV in for a gently used M1

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10 points

Only 20 gallons to the mile, not bad

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2 points

Absolutely nobody will cut you off in traffic, though. At least nobody who wants to see the next sunrise…

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4 points

what if the M1 doesn’t have a touch screen though

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6 points

good
touchscreens should be banned from vehicles

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3 points

It actually does, but it’s a hundred times more useful. It helps make things go boom.

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2 points

Touch targeting

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9 points
*

That’s not to mention the optics.

https://www.quora.com/Where-does-the-M1-Abrams-have-the-optics-of-its-main-cannon-I-dont-know-anything-about-tanks

#4 is the optic for the RWS. This cannot be used to aim the main gun, but it can be used as an alternate form of CITV, especially since it’s so damned high off the ground, it may be able to see over obstacles. Not as good as CITV in the thermal range, though.

That being said, some civilian vehicles are gonna have their own camera systems too, so…

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6 points

Civilian vehicles should all have thermals and a night driving HUD. If I’m paying 30,000 dollars then they can damn well put some actual stuff in there. Headlights being weaponized isn’t something we have to tolerate.

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2 points

Sorry, no can do, also cupholders are extra, best we can do is plastic hubcaps and a 10,000/6 month warranty.

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9 points

This is actually a good point. And here’s a video discussing the issue.

https://youtu.be/YpuX-5E7xoU?si=cmwWAFTUyAFt40mL

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-38 points
*

This is misleading because being higher up you can see much better further ahead, and over obstacles and barriers. Your special awareness is much better at distances that are relevant for avoiding collisions. If something is 1.5m away its too late anyway.

The angle is also incorrect because they are putting the eyes of the driver straight in line with the hood, which is not how its been in any vehicle I’ve ever driven, the head should be higher or further forward.

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52 points

The origin of the line is at head height…

Also these vehicles gain in distant visibility at the expense of everyone else on the road, blocking their views.

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19 points

Also, an astounding proportion of fatal pedestrian collisions happen at low-speed, close to home where these sightlines explicitly matter.

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-8 points

The best way to avoid getting into an accident is to see it long before you get there. But situational awareness is not something the vast majority of drivers actually practice or have…

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15 points

You don’t want to see “over” obstacles close to your vehicle when said obstacles are in fact human beings standing in front of your car.

At parking lot speeds, 1.5 meters is also not “too late,” and it certainly isn’t when you are at a standstill but need to determine if it is safe to move or if there is a small person in front of your vehicle, i.e. in the school pickup line, or in a parking lot, or your own driveway.

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2 points
*

Ooo ooo we can do it like buses do. We’ll put a bar on the front that folds out. 3 year olds totally know what that is right? They’ll just get out of the way!

(/s)

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117 points

I have conservative family members who deliberately go for the biggest SUV with the lowest gas mileage available just to “stick it to the government.” If the government told them that they couldn’t drive a small car, they’d be out there shopping for a small car. It’s incredibly childish.

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40 points
*

Yeah, a lot of stupid culture war crap is now tied up into the car your own.

If people actually prioritized performance, handling, visability, cost to drive, and cabin features, then a LOT of people would probably be better off with a sedan.

If you don’t need the space, you can get so much more bang for your buck with a smaller car. The $10k more you spend on the larger form factor could go toward a nicer power train and cabin luxury features.

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14 points

Most other countries I’ve been to, all the trades use these, and seem to have no problem getting projects done.

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7 points
*

Japanese Kei trucks are pretty rad, but they don’t fly with US highway safety regulations. They’re meant for slower roads / slower collisions speeds.

That said, most American trucks do not need to be remotely as big as they are.

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2 points

Let’s ignore the lack of crush zones, air bags, seat belts, re-enforced door panels and cabin pillars, for a moment. (The lack of any safety features is why they are mostly illegal to operate on roads in the US.)

How far do you think that roller skate could pull my empty 24,000lbs tandem axle tilt bed trailer? Or even my 4000lbs trailer? On a highway at highway speeds.

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6 points

Not to mention longer term cost of maintenance and insurance.

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1 point

“15 minutes could save you 15% or more 100% on car insurance”

(by leaving the scene of the accident as rapidly as possible. ‘Geico’? No no, ‘Guy, Go’.)

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3 points

Or a hatchback or a station wagon…

Oops, nobody makes station wagons anymore. We stopped making them because, uh, people stopped buying them. Yeah, that’s the ticket. People stopped buying them because we stopped making them.

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4 points

The Americans don’t, but Volvo, Benz, Audi still do.

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2 points

Ya know it probably says something that the concept of “cabin luxury features” made we want to burn the inside of a car. Ill stick to my lack of cupholders in my 30 year old car thanks, but seriously when I see the interior of modern cars they make me want to rip into them with wire cutters. Bunch of useless crap like lane assist, cruise control, and addaptive road assist, powered stearing is the only luxury I need.

Fun fact I am only 24, I just am tech literate in the way that causes me to think 90% of technology is worthless crap that shouldve never been created and needs to be recycled.

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13 points

Cruise control is hardly luxury, most cars have had it for a while

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4 points

True. I’m mostly saying that you could probably take that cash and upgrade to a nicer car that isn’t covered in creaking injection molded plastic inside, or something with nicer seats and upholstery.

AKA decent materials, and not the cheap garbage you get on a base model American SUV.

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2 points
*

I’m almost 40 and a lot of my cars in my teens and 20s were from the '80s and '90s. Almost everything I’ve owned has had at least a rudimentary cruise control although there are some ('80s Bronco II, '95 Miata, early '90s 240sx, 99 Impreza Wagon) where it was broken or I just never used it.

All that said, I LOVE the radar controlled cruise control on my current vehicle. I’ve used it for at least 20,000 miles of driving at this point. Interstate, highway, city, you name it… Pretty much any time I want to maintain a steady speed over 28 and there’s not a lot of stop and go traffic. I hate thinking about life without it now (and I hate using standard cruise control without radar)!

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2 points

I’m with you. I want my car to have three pedals, a steering wheel, and a stick. Air conditioning, heat, and one cigarette lighter socket. That’s it.

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20 points

Toddler core behaviour

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18 points

I had a student get just the worst giant diesel truck that was constantly breaking down so she could “stick it to the libs”.

Girl was 18. Future of the nation?

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10 points

Yeah, at some point we’re going to have to crank up gas prices

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12 points

budgeting and foregoing food to own the libs

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5 points

Ironic, considering how much gasoline is taxed.

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1 point

Barely at all?

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1 point

It depends on where, but it can be quite a bit. Typically goes towards road maintenance and whatnot.

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1 point

They’ve been getting confused after Elon turned into a giant-ass bigot, so now some of them are considering Tesla.

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64 points

GOP judge declaring NHTSA unconstitutional in 3… 2… 1…

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55 points

Humans have quite literally invented cars that are better at killing people, especially children.

“I don’t want children to die in accidents,” say people as they drive huge masses of metal that might do just that.

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16 points

I’ll keep driving my PEV Minivan that has 360 cameras and I can see in front of me easily. I care about children’s lives, unlike bubba in his lifted pickup truck. Why do you need a 4x4 lifted 3 feet and you live in the suburbs?

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11 points

…you know what they say about guys with big lift…

Funny thing is, the people I know with large vehicles around here always bemoan how difficult it is to park, yet don’t want to solve the obvious problem because twice a year they want to haul a fridge to the dump or pick up something from the home improvement store rather than have it delivered or rent a truck for an hour.

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8 points

Counting the differences in cost (loan, gas, expected maintenance, insurance etc) it came out to where I would have to use the truck to haul something at least a very weekend possibly more to break even with a much newer car vs just renting a truck once or twice a year. Pickups are almost universally owned by people too stupid for middle school math imo.

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6 points

always bemoan how difficult it is to park

I’ve made multuple older men incredibly upset by laughing at them when they say this

They get pissy and respond with “well you’re some skinny long haired hippie who drives an EV so what do you know?” Which, yeah, all of that is true

But then I pull up the pictures of me 4x4ing in the rain and snow through fire smoke at work, pointing out that I drove a RAM3500 fully kitted out and lifted with a giant set of 4 110g tanks in the bed blocking anything other than my mirror and cam view, yet I only had issues parking when people didn’t know how to stay in their own lines, and that I regularly had to squeeze my truck into areas with an inch or less of clearance in order to do my fucking job on a construction site, and I never hit anything but a rock (downhill, someone left a fucking rug out on some dirt in the rain and when my truck hit it I just slid til I hit the rock, company deemed me blameless)

They usually get flustered and change the subject p quick at that point

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4 points

Why do you need a 4x4 lifted 3 feet and you live in the suburbs?

Penis issue

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-6 points

Your minivan is huge too…

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14 points

Yes, but mini vans aren’t lifted 20 ft off the ground with absurdly huge hoods for no apparent reason.

The reason trucks and SUVs are killing kids is because you can see a 4ft tall person that isn’t standing 100 yards in front. These are the only vehicles with this problem.

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0 points

Driving a truck and not wanting children to die in accidents are in-fact not in conflict with each other. Or are you implying that truck drivers do want them to die?

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10 points

Driving a truck and not wanting children to die in accidents are in-fact not in conflict with each other.

Then design trucks which are not as deadly to pedestrians on impact.

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1 point

Large vehicles are inherently going to be more dangerous to pedestrians than cars. If you make a truck the size of a car then it no longer functions in the role it was intented for. Why is everyone so focused on trucks anyway? The nose height on most vans is compareable and on semi trucks it double the height of a pickup yet nobody seems to be complaining about those.

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4 points

No, but it clearly isn’t important enough to them to influence their choice.

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0 points

So you think people should not buy trucks because they might be in the 0.1% of truck drivers who end up killing a pedestrian with it? What about the people who have a legitimate use for the bed?

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54 points

Why do little cars have to withstand a collision with a huge truck but trucks just get bigger and bigger? The new Hummer is over 9,000lbs (4,090 kg)

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28 points

At 60 MPH the Hummer EV has the same kinetic energy as a 1993 Honda Civic Hatchback going 120mph.

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16 points

Trying to imagine my old Civic doing that …… holy shit that engine is winding up, glowing red hot, and I probably needed rocket boosters!

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8 points

Works fine in need for speed 😏

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6 points

Forced induction will get your old Civic to 120mph in a jiffy. 😆

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6 points

The only 93 Civic that hit 120mph was falling out of a plane at 35000’.

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3 points

Holy shit

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17 points

wtf in Europe that thing couldn’t be driven with a regular class B drivers license

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10 points

Commercial license requirements for full sized trucks over a certain size and weight would be an excellent solution. In addition to the increased effort and cost to get one, commercial licenses are way easier to lose.

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3 points

It depends on the state, but it usually is. It’s just very high, like a gvwr of 26k lbs.

Thing is, a CDL covers a bunch of stuff you really don’t need to know for something smaller than that, like air brakes. That said, some kind of graduated licensing is called for, here.

Motorcycles, too, while we’re at it. It’s insane that you can go through MSF and then immediately buy a literbike.

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2 points

I agree. It’s felt weird each time I’ve rented a moving truck and was able to drive it myself. They are giant and I’m not used to driving something so big plus no visibility out of the rear of the vehicle. And on top of that, they are so massive that mistakes will hurt more and will be harder to notice while they are happening.

Though even normal licenses are too easy IMO. I haven’t been tested or trained on driving in decades. Most people don’t know how 2 way stop signs work, I’ve even had a cop wave me through when it was their right of way. The bar should be higher for getting and keeping a license and lower for losing it. And “but people need cars to get to work and such” addressed with better mass transportation and city planning.

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13 points

The cybertruck is like 7k lbs.

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5 points

Regardless of truck size, I don’t think tractor trailers are going anywhere. Even if we made trucks smaller those would still be out there

Smaller trucks would still get in accidents though, and I imagine they would be less deadly

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22 points

Man, if only we could separate freight from commuter traffic. Like, imagine if all those tractor trailers were on their own separate road, but make it out of, IDK, metal or something so it can withstand the weight better. You could even just have metal right under the wheels, to reduce costs. But what do I know, I’m just some pie in the sky nobody who doesn’t know what he’s talking about

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4 points

That sounds like a neat idea—here’s a wild thought, what would happen if we tried the same thing with passengers? Eh, you’re right, sounds positively un-American.

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3 points
*

Not to mention it would reduce all the underride crashes.

All these improved vehicle safety standards are generally for bumper-to-bumper collisions, not windshield-to-truck-bed. Frontline released a well-done 2023 episode on it. Highly recommend.

Edit: md link

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1 point

Unless you’re going to run train tracks to every business in existence, freight will need to be moved using a semi at some point.

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10 points

Tractor trailers are heavily regulated with training, licensing, driving hours and sleep break logging etc. Are they really a significant source of pedestrian collisions?

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2 points

You should check out the safety stuff with them and cars. You’ll stay near one on the road again.

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5 points

I really just want small cars to make a comeback

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-1 points

Even if we made trucks smaller those would still be out there

If we made them smaller there’d just be more of them on the road. There’d also be higher prices for everything to compensate for the extra expense of having those extra trucks and bodies to pilot them.

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4 points

Cars are getting a lot heavier now that EVs are becoming mainstream.

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I mean they’re getting heavier, but not, like, whole number multiples heavier. An electric might be some 60% heavier than a comparable gas car. But the aforementioned hummer is more than 5 times heavier than even a heavy electric “utility vehicle”. That’s more than 400% heavier.

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4 points

Huh? Are you saying heavy electric utility vehicles are less than 2k lbs? I think you’re math is a bit off, or I’m misunderstanding you. 9k lbs is heavy but it’s only around 2k lbs heavier than it’s gas counter parts (most SUVs are around 6.5-7k lbs). Most electric cars are 1-2k lbs heavier than their gas counterparts already. Batteries are not light.

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1 point

Because chuds keep buying them so manufacturers keep making them

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