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Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

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Re: Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

#111

Post by giardini »

vorpalhex wrote: post #83
HWR_14 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the government should have been more in your parents' business. I'm not usually one to think that the government has any place in the family, but 10 children seem like too many for 2 parents to wrangle well. Unless your family has more than two adults, how were you supervised?

I don't know how to tell you this, but other people are different from you. The world is full of people who have families and lives and they are not just shallow copies of you. Just because something isn't to your liking or understanding doesn't mean it's bad or wrong.

This is precisely the kind of socializing influence my 4-year elder sister brought to me! Her words are burned into my brain: "Other people don't think the way you do!"

With that simple statement she opened up a whole new world to me.

Re: Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

#112

Post by nathanaldensr »

inanutshellus wrote: post #4

The government addressed this a few years ago by raising taxes on larger car chassis, making vehicles like the Hummer more expensive. This led to the instantaneous rise in popularity of so-called "crossover" vehicles. Puffy vehicles that looked kinda SUV-ish and were elevated for higher road visibility but were built on a smaller (lower tax rate) car chassis. The article of course wants to go to the next step, bannin…

Also, the Supreme Court recently curtailed the EPA overstepping its bounds to set regulation. In other words, regulatory authority is actually moving away from the government having the power to simply ban things.

Re: Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

#113

Post by Dracophoenix »

abakker wrote: post #101
Dracophoenix wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if we wanted to have a more sane system, we'd remove second order incentives in favor of direct first order regulations. but, that would require constitutional amendments which are unlikely to pass. I detest both arguments. The drinking age didn't stop under-21's from drinking. They just don't do it publicly. You're correct in that governments shouldn't use legislative carrots and sticks to influence state policies…

I used alcohol as an example, and should have been more clear that it was _just_ an example. I'm sure you and I could find common ground where we believe that carrot/stick approach is dumb, but that some rule should be passed.

With regard to alcohol, the government, federal or state, shouldn't have a place in it.

With respect to other matters, it would depend on the circumstances. In the context the article at hand, I doubt writing legislation dictating that a car should be only so high and only so wide would be effective. Legally, speaking, even if such a law were passed, it would be unenforceable. It would hurt the automotive industry and kill hundreds of not thousands of jobs. And with regards to safety, smaller cars are more cramped wouldn't fit a wide-berthed family of five.

Countries with low vehicular fatalities per person make it difficult for anyone but the rich to own a car in the first place usually via high import taxes or a yearly vehicle licensing or excise tax. But that goes back to our original point in that direct policies would immediately receive pushback and legal challenges where as more indirect policies that "solve" the immediate and medium-term issue but will eventually cause economic consequences that fully aren't grasped until it's too late. Both approaches eventually lead to undesirable outcomes.

Re: Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

#114

Post by kube-system »

kixiQu wrote: post #26
Geonode wrote: post #2

Why can't they government fix my pet peeves? This kind of thinking is what's leading us to a prison society without privacy or freedom, one little whiny step at a time. The government should do as little as possible, and the least at the federal level.

In my household we typically use the phrase "pet peeve" to refer to things that are meaningfully below the impact threshold of killing humans https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/large-trucks-suvs-far-m...

The article did not take issue with the safety of large vehicles.

Re: Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

#115

Post by Bubble_Pop_22 »

samemail88 wrote: post #61
havblue wrote: post #51

I might as well repeat the overprotective parent perspective. Fatalities are higher if you're in a sedan in an accident with a pickup or semi. There are a lot of trucks on the road as well. Finally, road accidents are the one of the biggest risks young people face. So ignoring the fact that this makes it into an arms race of weight and size, a parents desire for child safety wins against someone's desire to lower car…

You break the arms race by limiting the size.

No, you break the arms race by making people understand that size is not the only game in town.

GT cars have steel cages built around the driver, also carbon fiber reinforcements.

Re: Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

#116

Post by kube-system »

HWR_14 wrote: post #41
ibejoeb wrote: post #16

No substance. How could the government limit the size of vehicles? > Companies will never voluntarily reduce their SUV sizes unless outside forces pressures them to do (like $10 oil). If oil (say, brent crude) goes to $10, something has gone very awry.

> How could the government limit the size of vehicles? Tons of ways. For instance, "a car must get at least 40 MPG". "A car can weigh no more than X". There are lots of whats to phrase the rules. Or do you mean "how could the government possibly enforce a law against a product in a highly regulated industry with compulsory registration", in which case it seems obvious.

> "a car must get at least 40 MPG".

This is basically how CAFE works, and it's part of the problem. Trucks are necessary for commerce and utility, and we allow people to drive them on the road. So we now have a road filled with vehicles that are technically "trucks" carrying families instead of "cars".

Re: Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

#117

Post by 8jef »

Try to limit it and tax people who buy monstrous passenger vehicles, they will turn to utility vehicles. Tax all large rides and give tax breaks to businesses to compensate, people will grow businesses just for the kick of a giant ride, or ride some rv. It will end when people realize real life impacts of their ways, probably when the day they die. Find a gentle way around that and save the world!

Re: Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

#118

Post by nathanaldensr »

rndmind wrote: post #44

I believe the government should increase yearly registration costs exponentially based on lower MPG. If you get 10-18 MPG... you must pay 10 times the registration fee that a 40-50 MPG hybird pays.

Luckily, I can move to a state where they don't do that.

Re: Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

#119

Post by kube-system »

sbmthakur wrote: post #46
rpmisms wrote: post #3

I'm the oldest of 10 kids. My family needed a 15-passenger van to travel. Why can't the government stay out of my business?

Why is van classified as a car? It's more like a mini-bus than a car.

Technically, they're not. The SUVs that this article complains about are also technically not "cars". They're classified as trucks under many regulations.

Re: Why can't the government put a limit on car sizes?

#120

Post by sebazzz »

Geonode wrote: post #2

Why can't they government fix my pet peeves? This kind of thinking is what's leading us to a prison society without privacy or freedom, one little whiny step at a time. The government should do as little as possible, and the least at the federal level.

> The government should do as little as possible, and the least at the federal level.

Look at where that got the biggest country on the planet.

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