All these children are invisible to the driver…
Fuck all those cars!!! Put them away to hell, not to earth. They are too big for all - except for small egos. But for small egos is therapy much better.
Or we could, you know, follow previously established methods of building vehicles that make pedestrian death and dismemberment less likely.
No, no, no. Americans need them this way apparently for some inexplicable fucking reason.
So instead of just designing them with pedestrian safety in mind to begin with, we are just gonna slap on more fucking band-aids (like cameras) that do fuck-all.
Americans never asked for this, it’s the classification system for light trucks implemented following the Yom Kippur War that left too much leeway in the definition for “light trucks” that has been driving auto makers in this direction.
Of course there have been knock-on cultural issues where certain people make it part of their ego and the market effect becomes self reinforcing, but that’s how we got into this mess. History is a series of unintended consequences, again.
Agreed. The industry is invested in avoiding regulation that could impede their profits at all costs. This means they will invest in advertising pushing the idea that these vehicles are needed.
I’d argue that they have asked for trucks to get so big because they seemingly sell better that way. It’s admittedly an imperfect thing to look at since there’s few alternatives and many other factors, but these big trucks didn’t immediately take over the market. At some point they were introduced and consumers liked them.
I’m not sure if American consumers “liked” them so much as they were pushed heavily by auto makers while they quietly phased out more practically sized vehicles like hatchbacks, station wagons, and a lot of sedans (other than those sedans that fetch a high price for their performance and appeal to an entirely different market; your corvettes, mustangs, etc.) That ‘light truck’ designation brings with it larger profit margins; the vehicle itself is bigger so the manufacturer can charge more for it, and then they have to obey fewer environmental regulations so development/manufacturing is cheaper in comparison to trying to meet the regulations for smaller vehicles.
This is why I said it became an ego thing. Automakers didn’t set out to kill the most kids possible and ask “how do we design towards that”, they exploited a regulatory loophole which then cracked open a wider market niche based on people’s egocentrism, brutality, and myopic attitudes toward transit (e.g. carbrain).
Yeah, more like “Ban trucks that are built so high off the ground that they can’t see pedestrians.” That would easily include lifted trucks as well as general monstrosities.
I mean, it’s not like any of these motherfuckers uses these things to haul anything other than their kids and fucking groceries anyway.
Too much of a pussy to just own it and just drive a fucking minivan, which can easily carry kids and groceries. Has to buy the big dick extender instead.
Definitely stock cause it doesn’t even look leveled, and no one lifts without leveling.
I saw a YouTube explaining the giant cars in the US have to do with the government making a big equation that car manufacturers have to follow.
The equation calculated the weight, size, gas mileage, etc, and the only way they can make the cars pass the equation is to make them giant. The equation backfired and now we have giant cars.
Yep, the manufacturers get massive tax breaks on this class of vehicle, which means they can make and sell them at the same or better price than a small, fuel efficient car. If a family with kids has to choose between a mid size crossover or an F150 at similar price points, why would you get the crossover? The USA needs to fix the way it taxes cars to disincentivise these fuel inefficient giant cars. No other country has these problems so it’s not a selfish person problem, it’s an entirely logical choice to make given the circumstances.
Band-aids like cameras that do fuck all? Cameras are a very quick, simple, and obvious solution to this specific problem. There’s a reason that all new cars have backup cameras nowadays. Perfection is the enemy of good and all that.
Yeah, it’s totally just stuff I don’t like!
It’s not like there’s any evidence whatsoever these giant pieces of shit are more dangerous. The referenced news story definitely doesn’t talk about the science behind why they’re more dangerous. It’s just people don’t like it! /s
Could you be any more disingenuous?
Require vehicle safety standards to test for pedestrian and cyclist survivability first and foremost.
Require a commercial license to drive large and/or heavy vehicles such as pickup trucks. Take it away when a driver gets caught driving unsafely.
Require vehicles to provide better visibility through the windshield, like Europe does.
Design street lanes to be narrow and winding, so that drivers intuitively choose to drive at speeds that are safe for people outside the vehicle. Raise pedestrian crossings at the same level as the sidewalk so that drivers habitually slow down when they see a crossing.
In other words, value the safety of the people outside the vehicle above the speed and convenience of the drivers.
Require a commercial license to drive large and/or heavy vehicles. Take away such commercial license when a driver gets caught driving unsafely.
This is my favorite type of suggestion because it puts the responsibility on the person driving and makes it clear that hauling heavy loads or large trailers is a bigger deal than driving a sedan. We have different licenses for motorcycles, the same makes sense for any light truck and above. This would also promote the use of compact sized trucks that are basically cars with beds and minivans instead of people getting full sized vans and massive trucks.
My personal favorite: the fines for moving violations should scale with vehicle size. It’s total BS an F150 and a Miata get the same ticket for running a red light.
@blandy @frostbiker
In Victoria (Australia), the fine for using your mobile phone while riding a bicycle is the same as when driving a 2.6 tonne ute.
Yeah, I tried to stay away from the specifics of how to consider size. I was thinking weight more than anything since it factors into how much force is imparted. But I also think more than length, ride height should be considered in addition to mass. Fuckin bumper to the face is way less survivable than to the waist.
Design our streets to be narrow and winding
I drive to several places that have traffic flow designs. The road narrows near crosswalk to just enough for 2 cars to pass, no shoulder. It definitely makes me slow down even when alone. These can do a lot to impact drivers speed and safety.
Design our streets to be narrow and winding
And with separate, protected walking and cycling infrastructure.
If the street is sufficiently hostile to fast moving cars, at some point dedicated infra space for cyclists becomes unnecessary. As soon as it becomes reasonable for a nutjob to speed past 30 kph though, cycling infra becomes quite necessary.
I guess this was in reaction to our city in particular, where they have made the new 3 lanes each way major arteries much more curvy to help control traffic speds but still have a bike lane separated only by white paint (on a 35mph street where everyone travels 50mph). The winding aspect has just made it more likely that drivers cutting the corners clip into the bike lane more basically.
Require a commercial license to drive large and/or heavy vehicles. Take it away when a driver gets caught driving unsafely.
This is already a thing. In my state anything weighing over 10,000 pounds and used in interstate commerce requires a medical card. 17,000 and used intrastate is the same medical card. Towing anything for commercial reasons above 10,000 pounds requires a special license. Driving a vehicle weighing over 26,000 pounds requires a special license.
If the children were driving their own SUVs this wouldn’t be a problem.
The other day i saw a pickup truck trying to switch lane, they just put on the signal and attempted to switch, didn’t realise there’s a sedan just beside them. Dude couldn’t even see who’s honking them telling them not to switch.
That’s called failure to check your blind spot. I’ve driven a pickup for over a decade and never not been able to see when a vehicle is next to me if I physically turn and check my blind spot. Though we are promoting people becoming more lazy with this as most new cars just do this for you. In my newer work vehicle, the side mirrors have an orange indicator turn on when someone’s hanging in your blind spot.
If the car isn’t that big the blindspot wouldn’t be that terrible. You might be able to drive a tank without destroying any bush, but the issue here is other people who failed to do so.
Prime example. Lifted truck can’t see car next to it.
Not arguing with your concept but this is a bad example. The Corolla drifted into the truck not the other way around
Front end cameras? Are they serious? That isn’t a solution to not being able to see in front of your car. 🤦
Make the darn thing smaller.