How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania • Hacker News Board

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#351

Post by harambae » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 1:56 PM UTC

1970-01-01 wrote: post #225

kelnos wrote: post #158

I went back and forth on the idea of sharing such a negative take here, but... here goes. > You'll need to find a truck that is at least 25 years old. In the US, cars more youthful than that must comply with FMVSS (safety standards). > No air bags, [...] power steering, or crumple zones. I feel like this sort of thing is a fantastic illustration of the irresponsible level which most drivers (in the US at least; can't…

>I feel like this sort of thing is a fantastic illustration of the irresponsible level Motorcycles are much less safe when compared to this truck. Would you also ban them, or do they receive an arbitrary exception?

A better comparison, as far as flowing with traffic, is a moped (i.e. Honda Navi, top speed 55mph) rather than a motorcycle (i.e. Suzuki SV650, top speed 130mph).

I had to look it up myself, not being sure, but "the Navi isn’t freeway-legal in many states" [0]

So probably allowing them on city streets but not highways is what I would propose, to answer your question. I don't think banning them altogether is right (for the Kei truck or Navi) since micromobility has all sorts of benefits where it fits.

[0] https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/2022/07/28/2022-honda-navi-...

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#352

Post by CorrectHorseBat » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 2:02 PM UTC

ilyt wrote: post #323

CorrectHorseBat wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but that's only because most countries with horrible numbers don't have any data in that column and end up at the bottom. If you sort by anything else the USA is far far from the worst country.

If you look at the numbers and compare it to say Poland or Germany you'd get 2x-4x higher death numbers for any metrics. Also the fact US statistic per mile are so high, despise it being a big country where I'd imagine most miles were highway ones probably hides even higher rate of accidents in cities.

Yes, the numbers aren't great, especially if you compare to other developed countries. The claim was most pedestrians killed per mile driven of any country, and that's simply ridiculous.

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#353

Post by manuelabeledo » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 2:12 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #215

SoftTalker wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same reason many people buy Teslas

To be fair, the first gen Nissan Leaf was a piece of crap though.

It was cheaper too.

The cheapest Model S you could buy back in 2012 was ~$70,000, while the Leaf started at half of that in 2010, ~$35,000.

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#354

Post by refurb » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 2:18 PM UTC

tehwebguy wrote: post #287

refurb wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one thing that opened my eyes about this view of safety is living in a developing country. Riding a motorcycle without helmets, kids on their laps, cars without seatbelts, makeshift trucks with cargo randomly stacked and not strapped down. They are completely oblivious to the safety risks. But you know what? 99% of the time it doesn't matter. They live long and healthy lives. I get the sense the West has progress…

One of the wildest examples of literal survivorship bias I’ve ever heard

It's not. Even with their lack of concern around safety the chances of dying in a motor vehicle wreck are almost nil.

Like I said, in the West, people are so concerned about safety they loose all sense of relativeness. Saying that "wow, your car doesn't have airbags, you're as good as dead" is a ridiculous statement.

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#355

Post by bobthepanda » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 2:18 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #249

bobthepanda wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is mainly a federal distinction though. IIRC some federal countries like Canada or India have even greater variance between states.

Canada has one unified criminal code nation wide. For instance a province can't make weed legal or enact laws banning certain guns that are ok in others. The weird regional variations in Canada are like, ICBC as monopoly car registration + vehicle liability insurance in BC. Quebec language laws are another weird regional thing.

Canada has heavier restrictions on interstate/provincial commerce, including the fact that it is generally illegal to bring alcohol between provinces: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Free_Trade_Agreemen...

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#356

Post by bastawhiz » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 2:22 PM UTC

datavirtue wrote: post #350

oflannabhra wrote: post #208

There is a strong push at the state level to disallow the registration of kei trucks, being lead by the AAMVA (American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators) [0] As others have noted, these are fantastic utility vehicles, which have an important place in many rural areas. They can come with many important features like 4x4, diff-lock, dump beds, etc, all with a very reasonable 660cc serviceable engine. I perso…

Hmmm....what if I just acted like I manufactured the truck and just get a new title?

If you're asking whether fraud is going to work out, the answer is "maybe" but you probably don't want to have to show up in court for something so dumb

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#357

Post by HWR_14 » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 2:24 PM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #232

HWR_14 wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if the helmets were giant (unlike bike helmets, the rider doesn't have to carry the entire weight or air resistance). Then, instead of filling the helmets with hard styrofoam, we could fill them with something even softer, maybe a compressible gas. People could obviously store them in the vehicle. It might be annoying to wear them all the time, so we could mandate that cars detect when you are about to be in a c…

You're kind of making their point for them. It's dumb to mandate helmets or any other specific technology because it removes the possibility for something better or for context-based decisionmaking. Suppose you ride your motorcycle into the desert and then lose your helmet into a canyon. Your phone is dead. Your choices are a thirty hour walk out of the desert which might cause you to die of dehydration, or riding yo…

I'm not sure how you think I'm making their point for them. They said safety rules infringe on their freedom, and added an example of a more severe safety rule that would infringe on their freedom. I pointed out we also implemented a rule that does the thing they implied was more severe.

Meanwhile, there is a general necessity defense to violating all traffic laws for your motorcycle example. We don't list every possible emergency or every possible rule we would allow an exception to.

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#358

Post by sudosysgen » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 2:40 PM UTC

weberer wrote: post #33

asdfigandfiono wrote: post #3

This goes to show just how superficial and backwards the American car industry is. You can do the job of a $50,000 pickup using a machine that is half the size of a Honda Civic, costs $10,000 new, gets 40 MPG, fits in any parking spot, is easy to load, and sells for around $10,000 new. But they look weak and girly . Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas.

>But they look weak and girly. If you've read the article, you'd see its because these vehicles don't conform to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

Untrue. Any vehicle that is more than 25 years is exempted from the FMVSS.

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#359

Post by damascus » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 2:49 PM UTC

yomlica8 wrote: post #349

sellmesoap wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another advantage for off-road kei trucks is they are narrow, allowing you to drive around obstacles that you would need a lot of clearance (big tires/lift kits.) A lot of trails in the PNW get overgrown and a narrow vehicle that weighs less causes less trail erosion and can squeeze past obstacles rather then going over them. My understanding is that in Japan insurance cost is based on your odometer, and there are st…

Trucks used to be cheap utility vehicles with fairly basic mechanics, but they've turned in giant luxury land yachts with a price to match. They aren't even a good fit for a lot of kinds of work anymore. If we allow motorcycles to drive on roads I don't see why we couldn't have some sort of limited road use exemption for these simple vehicles. At the very least you should be able to just buy them for farm use.

You can drive whatever you want on private property. It's the 'going on the road' part that adds on the government oversight.

Re: How to register a Kei truck in Pennsylvania

#360

Post by agloe_dreams » Mon, Jul 17, 2023, 3:22 PM UTC

agloe_dreams wrote: post #177

asdfigandfiono wrote: post #3

This goes to show just how superficial and backwards the American car industry is. You can do the job of a $50,000 pickup using a machine that is half the size of a Honda Civic, costs $10,000 new, gets 40 MPG, fits in any parking spot, is easy to load, and sells for around $10,000 new. But they look weak and girly . Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas.

FWIIW, I would’t be shocked to find out these have worse emissions.

(To be clear, The EPA said this as well and it was part of the original crackdown.)