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The deadly rise of giant trucks and SUVs

nytimes.com

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Re: The deadly rise of giant trucks and SUVs

#551

Post by matheusmoreira »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #59

WA state recently passed a law about e-bikes/e-motorcycles to deal with the issue of younger teens on these kinda moped-style e-bikes going very fast around town (and often riding quite recklessly). The law is reasonable, but it strikes me what a double standard there is for biking vs driving. For biking, there's a danger that's noticed, and we quickly pass a law that straight up bans that type of bike for those ride…

> For biking, there's a danger that's noticed, and we quickly pass a law that straight up bans that type of bike for those riders.

From my perspective it's the other way around. Bikers don't pay taxes, don't follow traffic laws, they generally do whatever they want with total impunity while the law actively protects them. Meanwhile drivers pay taxes, get ticketed for violations and have to bend over backwards in order to avoid killing the bikers.

Re: The deadly rise of giant trucks and SUVs

#552

Post by alamortsubite »

trollbridge wrote: post #170
knuppar wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if that was true, we'd see the same pedestrian mortality rise everywhere, which we don't.

Other countries enforced not using phones when driving.

GP is blaming the victims (pedestrians), not the distracted drivers.

Re: The deadly rise of giant trucks and SUVs

#553

Post by sidewndr46 »

gnarcoregrizz wrote: post #542
bootlooped wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it does ban them, effectively. There is what some people say is a gray zone (I don't actually think it's that gray) where a device is too fast or powerful to be a legal e-bike, but also doesn't meet the requirements to be a road legal motorcycle. Will Progressive give me motorcycle insurance on my DIY e-bike without a VIN? Will the DVM register it? I don't think so. In most states there is no path to legality…

Which is too bad... They are great practical and reliable vehicles. You can't even ride them off-road either (CA), since the majority of _accessible_ off-road trails require a highway-legal vehicle, or are otherwise limited to hiking and biking. So, the only real alternative is a dual sport, which is louder, heavier, faster, and has more emissions. The latest (only?) loophole is to find a plated, clapped out Honda or…

well by 'more' emissions you'd mean infinitely more since most dual sports will be a 4 stroke engine.

Re: The deadly rise of giant trucks and SUVs

#554

Post by oblio »

budsniffer952 wrote: post #434
mikepurvis wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But families towed tent trailers back in the 80s behind their sedans and station wagons, too. Maybe there's a bit of circular reasoning going on here where people bought giant vehicles because they liked the aesthetics and internal roominess, and then the prevalence of giant vehicles opened up the market for larger and heavier towables— rigid body RVs, seadoos, a trailer full of gas dirt bikes, whatever it is. I also…

> But families towed tent trailers back in the 80s behind their sedans and station wagons, too. Are we concerned about safety, or are we not? Because towing a 2000+ lb trailer behind a sedan is kind of dangerous.

LOL. Americans have lost the plot. They've used SpaceX to leave reality.

The typical Dutch trailer is pulled by stuff like Volvo S60 and smaller, and it weighs around 3000lbs in freedumb units. They generally migrate about 1000km - 1500km to the South of France and then back North to the Netherlands.

Re: The deadly rise of giant trucks and SUVs

#556

Post by throwaway173738 »

tinfoilhatter wrote: post #296
baron816 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, probably the right thing to do for large trucks and suvs is to reclassify them so that you need a commercial license to drive them.

[flagged]

You could buy a minivan. The Toyota Sienna has more room for people and when you fold the seats down it has similar payload capacity to most of the trucks I’ve seen.

Re: The deadly rise of giant trucks and SUVs

#557

Post by kube-system »

tinfoilhatter wrote: post #337
rypskar wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are looking at it the wrong way. Driving something so large that it would require a commercial license to transport your family around is ridiculous

They don't require commercial licenses though, because they're not large enough to and don't serve a commercial purpose when transporting families / their things. Plenty of families have the need for third-row seating and the ability to haul things around.

The claim is not that they do, it is that they should. The high hood trend post-2009 has provides no functional utility.

Re: The deadly rise of giant trucks and SUVs

#558

Post by doctorpangloss »

iknowstuff wrote: post #539
asdff wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smartphone use is a compelling case: https://old.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1ubbfrv/oc...

Nah thats the same everywhere. Stroads and piss poor urban design, largely due to objections from stubborn fire departments chasing the wrong metrics and refusing to downsize, are a compelling case.

i'm not sure why you're being downvoted. there is a lot of research on this, the "natural experiments" have shown that road design explains a lot of the difference in injury rates between US and EU cities.

Re: The deadly rise of giant trucks and SUVs

#559

Post by akouri »

I'd like to start or contribute to a philanthropic effort to see the pickup truck and SUV arms race fought somehow. I think the strongest avenue, at least in the USA, would be better litigation and direct criminal responsibility for those that own them and are negligent in their operation (cell-phone use, speeding, illegal lift-kits, etc).

Does anybody know of such a nonprofit or organization that is currently making meaningful progress here that I can contribute to?

Re: The deadly rise of giant trucks and SUVs

#560

Post by platinumrad »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #551
TulliusCicero wrote: post #59

WA state recently passed a law about e-bikes/e-motorcycles to deal with the issue of younger teens on these kinda moped-style e-bikes going very fast around town (and often riding quite recklessly). The law is reasonable, but it strikes me what a double standard there is for biking vs driving. For biking, there's a danger that's noticed, and we quickly pass a law that straight up bans that type of bike for those ride…

> For biking, there's a danger that's noticed, and we quickly pass a law that straight up bans that type of bike for those riders. From my perspective it's the other way around. Bikers don't pay taxes, don't follow traffic laws, they generally do whatever they want with total impunity while the law actively protects them. Meanwhile drivers pay taxes, get ticketed for violations and have to bend over backwards in orde…

Pretty much none of your entire comment is true.
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