• givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    There needs to be regulations on the size of personal vehicles for a shit ton of reasons…

    But this one by itself should be enough.

    • SuiXi3D@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      There are… but there are loopholes. Which is why the vehicles get bigger every year. They’re all using loopholes to continue not bothering to meet the standards the regulations set forth.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Loopholes are always going to happen…

        But if you close them, then the problem is fixed.

        Currently we just ignore them, instead of passing regulations that close the loophole and clarify

        We could even go a step further and require plans to be approved by a regulatory agency before mass production can start.

        Boom, problem solved forever.

    • SonnyVabitch@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      There needs to be a social cost of owning these abominations. If we make it more expensive or more regulated, they’ll still find the people who want to drive them. If we make them embarrassing, shameful, or otherwise costly in social standing, the market for them will soon collapse.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Other countries require a special license for vehicles that big.

        It costs more, and requires frequent tests, written and driving. The large vehicles are also prohibited from driving down small side streets and using normal parking spaces.

        Because at this size, they’re only needed as commercial vehicles.

    • Wodge@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I live in Basel, Switzerland, lovely old city, very unfriendly to cars, which is fine due to the great public transit. There is this one dickhead who has a bright, shiny red Dodge Ram. It’s monstrous. And it doesn’t fuckin’ fit in the streets, I’d love to see how much in fines that idiot has had for blocking trams, traffic, and all the other nonsense I’ve seen it do, was actually stuck in traffic once because it got stuck on a corner, took 30 mins to get it backed up and out of the way.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      The conservative Supreme Court is about to make that a lot harder in a few days. Get ready for the Canonaro to be real.

  • pHr34kY@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Road taxes should increase after certain dimensions and weights. Bonnet/hood height should be one.

    Also, safety ratings should give equal weighting to the a vehicle’s impact absorbtion and impact contribution. It’s insane that something is considered safe solely because the occupant is protected.

  • doublejay1999@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    , I felt physically threatened just standing next to some of the products

    Yes, that’s why they make them like that.

  • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    No shit? I forget where I saw the comparison but the length of the view that is blocked when being in a big ass truck is absolutely insane. There could be a gaggle of kids in front of you and you would never know until you hit them.

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        11 months ago

        I mentioned this is another comment, but the crazy thing is that’s the driver’s view from M1 Abrams. Typically, in hatches open operation you’d either have a Crew Commander (and/or gunner) standing with their torso out of the turret for better visibility (and a second set of eyes), or a ground guide watching where you go.

        • farcaster@lemmy.worldOP
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          11 months ago

          Perhaps we should introduce a commander’s hatch to help large pickup trucks safely navigate around neighborhoods.

          • lepinkainen@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Ooh, we should introduce Maritime Pilots to cars!

            Just pick up a spotter who knows the territory when you enter a town and they can safely navigate your massive ego truck around the tricky streets.

      • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        That’d be the one.

        On another note, I think your comment is causing the Boost app to crash. :/

    • pageflight@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Was seriously considering a pickup as my next car until my partner pointed me to similar research a while back.

    • BlanketsWithSmallpox@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      There could be a gaggle of kids in front of you and you would never know until you hit them.

      Republicans: As long as they’re not white…

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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      11 months ago

      Modern trucks have shitty visibility all the way around. I borrow my dad’s Colorado and my boss’s F-150 frequently and I always feel like I’m driving a school bus and feel like I can’t see shit. They have backup cameras but it’s not that great(and the idea that a backup camera should be required to operate a vehicle safely in the first place is abhorrent to me anyway). I never had any issues with my S10 back in the day and I could fit more shit in the bed.

      • lad@programming.dev
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        11 months ago

        There’s another extreme, when a friend of mine took me for a ride in a two-seat convertible BMW X2 it felt like I was barely above ground. When one of the SUVs was near us at a traffic light it felt like it was going to run over us without even noticing

        • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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          11 months ago

          it felt like it was going to run over us without even noticing

          Yeah that’s because they have shitty visibility. Also the reason I’ll never ride a motorcycle in traffic.

  • MiDaBa@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    A truck has to have a nose that looks like a big slab of concrete to oncoming traffic. If it doesn’t men will be forced to wear dresses, sing show tunes while sitting to pee. Thems the rules.

  • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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    11 months ago

    It is honestly a major failure of US society (comedians I am looking at you) that people aren’t made fun of for driving these trucks so mercilessly that most people feel too ashamed to drive them.

    I mean lots of other failures too, it shouldn’t be legal especially because there is zero reason for the high hood height from a vehicle function perspective. Unless of course you consider your vehicle being more efficient at killing pedestrians a reason to have them that way. I suppose we have entered that stage of things here in the US haven’t we.

    • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Definitely. Builders and contractors in Europe drive vans; same as everyone else on the planet except the insecure yanks. If you pulled up to a site in one of these in any other country, I fuckin guarantee remarks will be made about your penis size and your penchant for the cock

    • some_designer_dude@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      This is a legitimate desire, I think. Being able to see more of what’s ahead is really luxurious and makes the whole driving experience feel safer (for drivers, anyway.) That said, now that every car on the street is a damned SUV, you’d need a damned semi truck to gain any real visibility advantage. Driving a “normal” car is like being the only dwarf in the NBA.

      • tb_@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        And sitting higher doesn’t necessitate a ridiculously high hood; look at any van ever.

        !okay there are probably exceptions but you get my point!<

      • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Sitting up higher only makes you feel safer. A taller car (especially a hatchback on stilts like most crossovers are) makes you more likely to roll over, and less able to make defensive maneuvers.

      • wieson@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        The seats keep creeping up higher but so do the windows. And the windows are farther and farther away from the driver. If we continue the current trend, soon there will be no more than slits on eye level.

        If you remember older cars like Mr Beans Mini, the windows went down to the elbows and were right up to the driver. Of course that’s less comfortable, but I prefer the all around view of older cars to the “elevated position” with firing holes for windows.

        • some_designer_dude@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          The windows-down-to-elbows cars were rolling coffins, safety-wise. I think once self-driving is ubiquitous, car designs can be completely reimagined.

          I’d love a periscope, personally. Larry David was on to something, but it’s not exactly “cool”…

  • jaschen@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    My 5 year old son loves Monster Trucks. We walked past one of these behemoth in stock form and he thought it was a monster truck. He wasn’t far off.

  • n0m4n@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Trucks like this are like having a huge gut, where you haven’t seen your …uhhh feet for years.

  • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    It’s ok though, in about 30 years after 2 million children are dead, we’ll make a law that limits the height of hoods, effective 5 years from then.

    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      We’ll also add exclusions for cars above a certain wheel well distance, which will only further incentivize carmakers to make bigger cars.

      /s but not really, because this is literally how emissions regulations work. Emissions regulations are less strict as wheel well distance increases, so larger cars can be less efficient. Which is why car makers have heavily pushed for larger cars via marketing, astroturfing, etc, because it means regulatory compliance is easier.

    • Sagifurius@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      yeah. you really can’t, the cab over semi isn’t coming back. They were cold in winter, too hot in summer, uncomfortable and killed the drivers in a moose hit. Sure anything you hit with a semi dies anyways, but doesn’t so often take the driver too with a conventional.

  • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

    We got rid of pop-up headlights because they were causing pedestrian deaths, but I don’t think we’ll do anything about these monstrosities because not only are they deadly, they’re not fun. And our regulators want to prevent fun more than they want to prevent death.

  • _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    The automotive industry must be jealous of firearms killing so many Americans and beating the annual death toll of vehicles, so they’re upping their game to really push us into an increasingly dystopian and dangerous world. How dare you walk or ride a bike!?